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LIBRARY 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 


Class 


PASSAGES 


FROM  THE  CORRESPONDENCE 


OF 


RUFUS  W.  GRISWOLD, 


No scitur    a    /So c i  is . 


CAMBRIDGE,   MASS., 

W:    M.    GRISWOLD, 

1898. 


It  is  not  expected  that  many  persons  will  be  interested  in  the 
small-talk  of  authors  and  journalists  of  fifty  years  ago,  especially 
as  the  literary  history  of  the  time  is  neither  respected  by  scholars 
nor  favored  by  fashion.  It  is  possible,  however,  that  the  time 
may  come  when  this  period  will  be  thot  deserving  of  more  careful 
study,  and  in  that  case  these  documents  may  be  found  of  value. 


Copyright,  1898,  by  W:  M.  Griswold. 


SELECTIONS    FROM    LETTERS. 


Rufus  Wilmot  Griswold  was  born  on  the  loth  of  February 
1815,  at  Benson,  Vermont,  where  his  father,  also  named  Rufus, 
was  a  small  farmer.  He  claimed  descent  from  G:  Griswold, 
of  Kenilworth,  one  of  wh6se  sons  settled  in  Windsor,  and 
another  at  Say  brook,  Conn.  On  his  mother's  side  he  was  of 
the  ninth  generation  of  the  descendants  of  T:  Mayhew,  the 
first  settler  of  Martha's  Vineyard.  The  character  of  his  early 
surrroundings  may  be  inferred  from  the  tw6  letters  which 
folio  :— 

Dear  Rufus  : 

We  received  your  letter  on  the  21  Dec.  [1838],  and 
could  1  write  now  as  I  could  once  I  should  have  answered  it 
before  this  ;  but  I  am  old  and  not  capable  of  writing  at  all.  I 
have  a  desire  to  write  once  more  to  you.  .  .  We  expect  Silas  is 
dead ,  and  where  and  how  he  died  we  know  not ;  but  if  we  had 
evidence  that  he  was  prepared  how  it  would  blunt  the  keen 
edge  of  affliction!  Rufus,  are  you  a  Christian?  Are  you  pre 
pared  to  meet  your  God  ?  If  not  be  entreated  to  set  about 
that  important  work.  Look  away  to  the  blessed  Saviour  for 
help  .  .  .  You  cannot  think  how  glad  we  should  be  to  see  you 
and  your  family — you  know  not  how  lonesome  we  are.  Our 
family  are  all  gone  seemingly.  Chauncy  has  not  been  home 
since  some  time  in  the  fall.  Permelia  has  been  home  once  since. 
Merrill  comes  often  t6  see  how  we  get  along;  he  is  very  good 


224381 


6  PAPERS  OF  R.   W.   GRISWOLD. 

to  help  your  father.  Marcus  is  living  with  us.  Chauncy  is 
likewise  very  kind — he  has  caused  our  house  16  be  made  very 
warm  and  comfortable.  Your  father  and  I  enjoy  good  health 
for  people  of  our  age.  .  . 

Your  affectionate  mother, 

Deborah  Griswold. 

The  next  letter  was  written  in  Feb.,  1841. 

"Although  it  is  a  long  time  since  we  wrote  to  you,  be 
assured,  there  is  no  day  passes  that  I  do  not  think  of  all  my 
Children.  .  .  Our  family — the  most  of  them,  are  gone  so  far 
from  us,  it  makes  us  feel  very  lonesome.  Our  little  family, 
consisting  of  your  father,  myself  and  Elizabeth  are,  through 
Divine  favor,  in  usual  helth  and  enjoying  the  necessary  Com 
forts  of  life.  Merril's  family  have  been  sick,  the  two  yongest 
very  sick.  .  .  Your  uncle  Samuel  Griswold,  his  wife  and  family, 
are  well.  He  will  be  eighty  years  old  in  March.  Permelia  and 
family  are  well.  Eveline  was  married  the  7th  of  January  to 
Mr.  Moody,  Merchant  in  Whitehall.  We  have  received  a 
letter  from  Edwin  .  .  .  Chauncy  is  in  Ticonderoga  working  at 
[  his?  ]  trade.  We  likewise  had  a  letter  from  Orra  in  the  fall. 
.  .  .  Randolph,  we  know  nothing  of  him.  Rufus,  it  will  be  but 
a  little  while  when  there  will  be  no  father's  house  to  visit ;  your 
father  lacks  but  two  years  of  seventy, — I  am  only  two  years 
yonger.  .  .  May  God  bless  you,  my  son,  and  gide  you  by 
His  holy  Spirit  into  all  truth. 

Your  mother  and  friend, 

Deborah  Griswold. 

In  West-Haven,  the  town  joining  Benson  on  the  south,  Horace 
Greeley,  born  four  years  earlier  than  Griswold,  spent  his  boy- 


PAPERS  OF  R.   W.   GRISWOLD.  7 

hood.  At  fifteen  we  find  Rufus  a  student  at  the  Rensselaer 
school  at  Troy,  which  he  was  enabled  to  attend  by  the  kind 
ness  of  his  brother  Hemau,  wh6  had  prospered  in  business  in 
that  town.  In  consequence  of  detection  in  a  school  prank,  he 
was  placed  in  his  brother's  counting-room.  While  there  he 
became  intimate  with  G :  G.  Foster,  his  elder  by  five  years,  and 
already  well-known,  locally,  ns  poet  and  journalist.  Griswold 
soon  fell  out  with  his  kinsfolk;  (the  cause  of  the  disagreement 
is  unknown)  and  joined  Foster  at  Albany.  In  a  memorandum 
written  some  twenty  years  afterward,  he  thus  describes  their 
friendship : — 

"We  remained,  occupying  the  same  room,  and  sharing  each 
other's  enterprises,  pleasures  and  ambitions,  for  nearly  a  year. 
It  was  here  that  we  both  commenced  and  pursued  our  first 
course  in  reading  in  romantic  and  poetical  literature.  All  the 
masters  of  literary  art  who  had  written  in  the  English  language 
contributed  to  our  entertainment  and  were  subjected  to  our 
critical  discussions.  We  generally  agreed  very  well,  in  our 
estimates  of  books  and  authors,  but  sometimes  had  warm 
controversies,  as  in  the  cases  of  Pope  and  Goldsmith  and  a 
few  other  classical  models,  wh6m  I  preferred  t6  the  romantic 
and  passionate  school.  The  only  discussion,  however,  in 
which  our  disagreements  were  of  a  sort  t6  endanger  our  ami 
cable  relations  was  one  which  arose  from  my  preference  of 
certain  passages  in  a  manuscript  Poem  of  his  own,  entitled 
the  17th  Canto,  t6  the  parts  of  Byron's  Don  Juan  which  were 
nearly  in  the  same  vein.  I  thought  then,  as  I  still  think,  that 
for  the  humorous  and  satirical  style  of  Beppo,  Foster's  abilities 
and  temper  fitted  him  to  attain  the  greatest  success.  "The  17th 


8  PAPERS  OF  R.   W.   GRISWOLD. 

Canto"  contained  about  3000  lines,  and  was  full  of  genuine 
wit,  playful  burlesque  and  good  feeling.  The  loss  of  the  man 
uscript  was  a  misfortune,  since  nothing  that  he  has  since  done 
has  illustrated  a  more  sustained,  quick,  brilliant  or  sensuous 
intelligence.  We  parted  in  the  spring  of  1831,  and  though  we 
occasionally  corresponded,  did  not  meet  again  in  ten  years. 
He  had  led  a  life  of  various  fortune,  in  the  South  and  West. 
I  was  Editor,  with  Mr.  Park  Benjamin,  of  the  % 'Brother  Jona 
than"  newspaper,  and  while  congratulating  with  some  acquain 
tances  one  day,  at  our  office — upon  the  success  of  a  scheme 
which  we  supposed  was  to  revolutionise  the  publishing  Econ 
omy  of  the  Country — was  surprised  by  the  appearance  of  Foster, 
in  the  grotesque  costume  of  the  South- West,  but  otherwise 

scarcely  changed  from  what  I  had  known  him." 

« 

[The  "  Museum"  mentioned  was  u  The  American  Museum,  or  Repository 
of  Ancient  and  Modern  Fugitive  Pieces,  etc..  Prose  and  Poetical;"  Philadel 
phia,  1787-92, 12  vols.,  8°.  ] 

J:  TRUMBULL  [1750-1821]  TO  MATHEW  CAREY. 

Hartford.  June  4,  1785. 
gir: 

My  absence  from  home,  and  other  avocations,  have  till  now  pre 
vented  my  completing  the  corrections  and  transcriptions  I  forward  with  this 
letter.  Those  of  my  writings  already  published  are  out  of  my  hands,  and  I 
can  make  no  reasonable  objection  t5  their  republication  by  any  person  who 
shall  think  they  will  repay  his  risque  and  expense;  and  I  shall  be  particu 
larly  pleased  if  they  should  be  of  any  advantage  to  a  gentleman  who  by  his 
repeated  exertions  for  the  encouragement  of  American  literature  has  merited 
the  thanks  of  aTl  its  friends. 

The  Progress  of  Dulness  [published  1772  ] ,  from  its  locality,  as  well  as 
from  other  reasons,  I  had  determined  long  since  t5  suppress,  but  I  find  it 
impracticable.  I  have  transcribed  the  elegy  to  which  Col.  [  D :  ]  Humphreys 


PAPERS  OF   K.    W.   GRISWOU).  9 

[1752-1818]  added  the  title,  "The  Vanity  of  Ambition,"  which  does  not  well 
apply  to  it,  as  it  now  stands,  and  still  less  to  the  real  occasion  on  which  it 
was  composed.  I  do  not  see  that  it  needs  any  title. 

I  propose  hereafter  the  publication  of  McFingal  [first  part  issued  in 
1775,  last  in  1782  ] ,  with  my  alterations,  and  a  complete  set  of  notes,  which  it 
certainly  wrants,  with  the  addition  of  all  my  other  poems,  of  which  I  have 
many,  both  in  the  serious  and  humorous  style,  that  have  Jain  by  me  for  many 
years.  But  I  mean  t5  secure  the  copyright,  which  may  be  an  object  worth 
my  attention.  I  should  have  no  objection  to  the  sale  of  the  copyright,  and 
would  give  you,  if  you  wish  it,  the  first  offer  of  the  purchase. 

I  am  pleased  to  learn  by  a  letter  from  our  friend  Mr.  [Ebenezer]  Hazard 
[1744-17] ,  that  you  propose  to  publish  an  edition  of  all  the  American  poets  of 
reputation.  In  the  list  he  gives  me,  I  find  no  mention  made  of  [  Rowland  ] 
Hugely  of  S.  C.,  a  poet  certainly  superior  to  Evans  [Nathaniel  Evans,  1742- 
67,  ?  ] .  He  published  a  volume  of  poems  in  London  near  twenty  years  ago, 
chiefly  in  the  name  of  Prim  [  ?]  many  of  which  are  well  worth  preserving; 
and  since  that  a  travesty  of  the  4th  Book  of  Virgil,  which  for  delicacy  and 
true  humor  is  superior  to  Colton's. 

You  may  collect  some  poems— particularly  "The  Choice  of  a  Rural 
Life,"  or  "Philosophic  Solitude,"  by  Governor  [  W :  J  Livingston  [  1723-90] , 
which  do  credit  to  American  genius.  I  have  found  among  my  papers  an 
elegy  by  Samuel  Quincy  of  Boston,  which  you  may  perhaps  think  worth 
inserting  in  your  Museum.  He  was  certainly  a  poet  above  mediocrity.  I 
have  seen  many  other  of  his  productions,  which  I  have  never  seen  printed. 
Many  fugitive  poems  by  him,  Mayhew,  Pratt  and  others  might  be  collected 
in  Boston  which  are  worth  preserving  ( in  the  Museum. ) 

I  send  you  also  a  little  epistolatory  Poem  of  Col.  Humphreys  which 
may  be  inserted  in  the  Museum.  He  was  about  to  publish  it  in  a  way  I 
think  much  less  proper.  I  wish  it  might  not  be  known  that  he  proposed  its 
publication,  but  appear  to  have  fallen  into  your  hands  by  accident. 

I  shall  be  happy  to  afford  you  any  assistance  in  my  power  in  the  col 
lection  of  such  fugitive  pieces  as  may  deserve  publication.  A  brother  of  Mr. 
Hazard's  was  a  poet  of  genius.  Perhaps  Mr.  H.  would  furnish  you  with 
some  of  his  productions.  When  he  avoided  the  licentious  style  his  writings 
had  much  merit. 

I  am  sir,  Your  most  obedient  and  humble  servant, 

John  Trumbull. 


10  PAPERS  OF  R.  W.   GRISWOLD. 

I  find  no  trace  of  Griswold's  dftings  during  the  years  1832- 
33,  but  in  July,  1834,  as  appears  from  the  address  of  a  letter, 
he  was  in  Calais,  Maine.  This  letter  was  written  by  his 
brother  Silas,  and  stated  that  there  was  an  opening  for  him  on 
a  paper  about  t6  be  started  at  Dunkirk,  N.-Y.,  where  Silas 
then  dwelt.  Silas  repeated  his  invitation  Oct.  14,  sending  his 
letter  to  Syracuse,  N.-Y.  where  Griswold  was  working  in  the 
office  of  "  The  Constitutionalist." 

J.  K.  PAULDING  TO  T :  W.  WHITE. 

[  At  the  date  of  this  letter  the  writer  was  55.  He  was  secretary  of  the 
navy  1837-41,  and  died  in  I860.— The  Brown  mentioned  is  probably  James 
Brown,  born  in  Virginia  in  1766,  senator  1813-23,  envoy  in  France  1823-29. 
He  died  in  1835.] 

New  York,    19th  April,    1835. 
Dear  Sir: 

I  am  greatly  obliged  to  you  for  your  friendly  attention  in  sending 
me,  occasionally,  the  speeches  of  some  of  your  distinguished  orators,  and  am 
most  especially  pleased  with  that  of  Mr.  Brown,  which  I  have  just  finished 
reading.  Of  all  the  states  of  this  union  Old  Virginia  is  the  one  which  I  con 
sider  the  great  Bulwark  of  Constitutional  principles.  It  is  th&re  that  my 
observation  has  convinced  me  they  are  best  understood  and  practiced,  and 
the"rethat  I  look  for  the  great  security  for  their  preservation,  and  it  gives 
much  satisfaction  to  think  that  all  her  great  points  of  opinion  and  policy  are 
such  as  I  myself  cherish  more  devoutly  every  day  of  my  life. 

As  a  clear,  temperate  and  masterly  exposition  of  those  principles  I 
think  the  speech  of  Mr.  Brown  one  of  the  most  admirable  I  have  ever  read, 
though  in  some  respects  I  differ  with  him  in  his  application  of  those  great 
principles  to  the  present  times.  It  is  not  necessary  for  me  t5  say  in  what 
these  differences  consist,  though  had  I  time  at  present  I  might  point  them 
out  to  you.  My  leisure  will  not  permit  it  just  now  and  therefore  I  pass 
them  by.  * 

In  justice  however  t5  my  native  state,  I  cannot  forbear  some  remarks 
on  that  part  of  the  speech  which  relates  to  the  mode  of  managing  our  Elec 
tions.  I  admit  that  it  is  liable  to  objections  as  in  some  degree  checking  if  not 


PAPERS  OF   R.   \V.   GRISWOLD.  11 

overcoming  the  free  suffrage  of  the  People,  in  so  far  as  it  interferes  with  the 
personal  predilections  of  perhaps  a  great  portion  of  the  voters.  But  so  far 
as  my  observation  and  experience  extends,  it  does  not  interfere  with  prin 
ciples.  No  nomination  of  Committees  has  ever  yet,  nor  in  my  opinion  ever 
will,  force  down  the  throats  of  the  others  an  obnoxious  candidate,  or  one 
who  they  do  not  believe  will  support  their  own  interests  and  principles.  It 
may  serve  to  concentrate  their  suffrages  on  one  they  like,  but  never  in  favor 
of  one  they  do  not  like.  It  is  not  dictation  but  advice;  not  despotism  but 
friendly  counsel;  not  a  command  but  a  recommendation. 

As  our  system,  or  machinery  as  it  is  called,  seems  to  puzzle  the  South 
ern  politicians,  I  will  take  the  opportunity  of  showing  what  it  really  is.  In 
the  first  place,  meetings  of  the  people  friendly  to  regular  nominations,  as  the 
phrase  is,  are  called  to  appoint  an  equal  number  of  delegates  from  each 
ward  for  the  purpose  of  choosing  a  General  Kominatory  Committee,  which 
is  to  designate  or  recommend  the  persons  who  are  thought  worthy  to  repre 
sent  them  in  any  elective  office.  The  nominations  are  laid  before  the  People 
in  a  General  meeting  and  adopted  or  rejected  as  they  choose.  The  only 
influence  considered  is  that  which  operates,  in  all  circumstances  and  situa 
tions  of  life, — the  influence  of  record  [?],  persuasion,  or  example.  The 
Committees,  it  is  true,  have  influence,  but  they  are  chosen  by  the  people  and 
the  people,  in  the  last  resort,  exercise  the  right  of  reversing  their  proceed 
ings.  If  they  do,  they  become  null  and  void;  if  they  do  not  it  is  the  best 
proof,  to  my  mind,  that  though  all  are  not  equally  satisfied,  all  are  willing  to 
acquiesce. 

Such  is  the  abstract  view  of  this  system  of  Regular  nominations.  In 
practice,  like  every  thing  else  in  this  world,  it  is  liable  to  great  abuses  and 
perversions.  That  the  People  are  liable  to  be  deceived,  overawed,  or  influ 
enced  by  the  acts,  the  authority,  or  the  reasonings  and  persuasions  of  those 
whom  they  respect,  or  fear,  is  certain  ;  bulf  this  is  one  of  those  inevitable 
influences  which  extend  to  every  department  of  life,  and  cannot  be  avoided. 
ThSre  are  always  men  in  every  little  circle  of  society  who  give  tone  to  opin 
ion  and  direction  t5  action.  Influence  must  come  from  somewhere  or  other, 
and  it  would  seem  to  be  sufficient  for  the  protection  of  human  rights  that 
every  man  has  the  moral  and  physical  right  t5  act  as  he  pleases.  If  he 
pleases  to  act  under  the  influence  of  a  friend  or  a  neighbor  who  [m]  he  con 
siders  wiser  than  himself,  he  is  only  following  the  law  of  nature,  and  can  not 


12  PAPERS  OF  R.   W.  GRISWOLJ). 

be  charged  with  submitting  to  dictation  when  he  has  the  right  of  acting  just 
as  he  pleases. 

I  agree  entirely  with  Mr.  Brown,  in  his  estimate  of  the  possible,  nay 
probable  evils  of  an  amalgamation  [  ?]  of  this  species  of  Influence,  pervading 
the  United  States  and  receiving  its  impulse  and  direction  from  one  single 
person.  But  whatever  they  may  be,  if  we  look  to  the  other  side  of  the  ques 
tion,  are  not  the  dangers  equally  great,  if  not  greater?  The  principle  of  our 
Government,  that,  within  the  limits  of  the  Constitution,  the  majority  has  a 
right  to  govern,  seems  to  imply  the  right  to  take  the  measures  necessary  to 
enable  it  to  govern.  If  every  State,  and  every  [city?]  even,  should  indulge 
their  preference  and  nominate  a[nd]  vote  for  that  one  for  President  who  is 
most  peculiarly  their  choice,  what  would  be  the  inevitable  consequence? 
Unless  in  the  rare  accident  of  having  a  Citizen  of  such  vast  and  paramount 
merit  or  popularity  as  to  concentrate  in  his  favor  the  suffrages  of  the  whole 
or  a  majority  of  the  People,  there  would  never  be  any  choice  of  the  People. 
The  choice  would  always  fall  on  Congress,  and  the  Lord  deliver  us  from  such 
an  alternative.  That  would  become  the  centre  of  intrigue  and  corruption, 
and  the  voice  of  the  People  would  be  as  that  of  one  crying  in  the  wilderness. 
Under  our  present  Constitution  I  can  see  no  refuge  from  the  greater  evil  but 
the  lesser  one  of  uniting,  if  possible,  the  suffrage  of  a  Party  on  some  one 
person,  who,  though  not  the  general  choice  of  every  Citizen  of  that  Party,  is 
neither  obnoxious  [n]or  suspected.  If  some  such  mode  is  not  adopted,  this 
Government  will  sometime  be  one  of  the  minority,  and  though  this  might 
not  be  disagreeable  to  the  minority,  the  result  would  be  certain —  a  delegated 
power  acting  in  direct  opposition  to  the  wishes  of  a  majority  of  those  who 
conferred  it;  a  President  representing  a  mass  of  contradictory  principles, 
and  opposing  on  all  occasions  a  majority  of  his  Constituents,  and  opposed  by 
the  other  Branches  of' [the]  Government.  This,  to  my  mind,  would  be 
equivalent  to  no  government  at  all. 

My  paper  is  full,  or  I  would  speculate  deeper  into  this  subject.  I  have 
no  objection  that  Mr.  Brown  should  know  the  high  gratification  his  admir 
able  speech  has  afforded  me,  notwithstanding  his  [opinion?]  of  New  York. 
He  may  make  himself  quite  easy  about  the  [  illegible  ]  over  the  Union.  She 
is  not  homogeneous  like  Old  Virginia.  She  is  a  party-coloured  coat  like  that 
of  Joseph.  Foreigners,  Yankees  and  Cesmopolites  make  up  a  large  portion 
of  her  population,  and  she  never  looks  long  enough  in  one  direction  to  see 
her  way  clear,  beyond  her  nose.  By  the  time  the  next  succeeding  Election, 


PAPERS  OF  R.  W.  GRISWOLD.  13 

r  the  approaching  one,  arrives,  her  politics,  notwithstanding  the  <4ma- 
ery"  of  regular  nominations,  will  just  as  likely  as  not  have  undergone  a 
plete  French  Revolution.  She  will  never  govern  the  Union  for  she  can- 
keep  her  helm  steady  long  enough  to  arrive  at  that  Port. 

I  am,  Dear  Sir,  Yours  very  truly, 

J.  K.  Paulding. 
m't  use  my  name  publicly  in  connection  with  this  letter. 

W:  J:  DUANE  TO  T:  W.  WHITE. 

Ir.  Duane  was  secretary  of  the  treasury  in  1833,  but  was  removed  by 
:son  for  refusing  to  take  the  government  deposits  from  the  U.  S.  Bank, 
louse  of  Representatives  having  voted,  three  to  one,  that  the  deposits 
)t  to  be  removed.  Mr.  Duaiie  died  in  1865.  ] 

Philadelphia,  April  24,  1835. 
Sear  Sir. 

I  have  thankfully  received  the  favors  which  you  had  the  good- 
to  send  to  me;  and  have  read  with  pleasure  and  instruction  the  speech 
rered  by  Mr.  Brown.  The  copies  of  it  which  you  have  placed  at  my 
3sal  shall  be  carefully  and  usefully  disposed  of.  By  this  I  mean  that 

shall  be  put  into  the  hands  of  those  who  are  competent  to  estimate 
t.  As  to  producing  any  politically  useful  effect,  through  the  press,  at 
in  this  state,  it  is  not  to  be  expected  at  present.  Indeed  I  think  the 
ber  of  purely  patriotic  men  is  small  everywhere.  Not  that  such  men 
tot  in  existence,  but  that  we  do  not  see  them.  This  is  probably  owing  tft 
old  reception  they  meet  with ;  and  this  cold  reception  is  attributable  to 
lisappointments  the  people  have  met  with.  The  actual  practice  of  Gen. 
son,  for  instance,  has  been  the  very  reverse  of  his  professions.  So  that, 

such  an  instance  of  turn-coatism,  the  people  have  some  apology  for 
ust.  We  want,  I  think,  a  class  of  men  who  would  labor  to  serve  their 
try  solely  from  the  delight  which  serving  it  would  yield.  I  mean  men 
would  not  seek  or  accept  offices  or  other  selfish  considerations.  No 
t  there  have  been  and  are  such  men,  but  if  you  will  look  over  the  list 
ublic  men,  for  fifty  years  past,  you  will  trace  in  almost  every  instance 

lurking  motive  besides  the  bare  love  of  country  and  of  liberty.  .  . 

With  kind  wishes,  truly  and  respectfully  yours, 

W.  J.  Duane. 


12  PAPERS  OF  R.  W.  GRISWOLD. 

be  charged  with  submitting  to  dictation  when  he  has  the  right  of  acting  ji 
as  he  pleases. 

I  agree  entirely  with  Mr.  Brown,  in  his  estimate  of  the  possible,  n 
probable  evils  of  an  amalgamation  [  ?]  of  this  species  of  Influence,  pervadi 
the  United  States  and  receiving  its  impulse  and  direction  from  one  sin; 
person.  But  whatever  they  may  be,  if  we  look  t5  the  other  side  of  the  qu 
tion,  are  not  the  dangers  equally  great,  if  not  greater?  The  principle  of  c 
Government,  that,  within  the  limits  of  the  Constitution,  the  majority  ha 
right  to  govern,  seems  to  imply  the  right  to  take  the  measures  necessary 
enable  it  t5  govern.  If  every  State,  and  every  [city?]  even,  should  indu 
their  preference  and  nominate  a[nd]  vote  for  that  one  for  President  whc 
most  peculiarly  their  choice,  what  would  be  the  inevitable  consequent 
Unless  in  the  rare  accident  of  having  a  Citizen  of  such  vast  and  paramoi 
merit  or  popularity  as  t5  concentrate  in  his  favor  the  suffrages  of  the  wh 
or  a  majority  of  the  People,  there  would  never  be  any  choice  of  the  Peop  . 
The  choice  would  always  fall  on  Congress,  and  the  Lord  deliver  us  from  su 
an  alternative.  That  would  become  the  centre  of  intrigue  and  corrnpti< 
and  the  voice  of  the  People  would  be  as  that  of  one  crying  in  the  wilderne 
Under  our  present  Constitution  I  can  see  no  refuge  from  the  greater  evil  t 
the  lesser  one  of  uniting,  if  possible,  the  suffrage  of  a  Party  on  some  o 
person,  who,  though  not  the  general  choice  of  every  Citizen  of  that  Party, 
neither  obnoxious  [n]or  suspected.  If  some  such  mode  is  not  adopted,  tl 
Government  will  sometime  be  one  of  the  minority,  and  though  this  mig 
not  be  disagreeable  to  the  minority,  the  result  would  be  certain—  a  delegat 
power  acting  in  direct  opposition  to  the  wishes  of  a  majority  of  those  w 
conferred  it;  a  President  representing  a  mass  of  contradictory  principl 
and  opposing  on  all  occasions  a  majority  of  his  Constituents,  and  opposed 
the  other  Branches  of  [the]  Government.  This,  to  my  mind,  would 
equivalent  to  no  government  at  all. 

My  paper  is  full,  or  I  would  speculate  deeper  into  this  subject.  I  ha 
no  objection  that  Mr.  Brown  should  know  the  high  gratification  his  adm 
able  speech  has  afforded  me,  notwithstanding  his  [opinion?]  of  ~$e\\  Yoi 
He  may  make  himself  quite  easy  about  the  [  illegible  ]  over  the  Union.  S 
is  not  homogeneous  like  Old  Virginia.  She  is  a  party-coloured  coat  like  tl 
of  Joseph.  Foreigners,  Yankees  and  Cesmopolites  make  up  a  large  porti 
of  her  population,  and  she  never  looks  long  enough  in  one  direction  to  s 
her  way  clear,  beyond  her  nose.  By  the  time  the  next  succeeding  Electic 


PAPERS  OF  R.  W.   GRISWOLD.  13 

after  the  approaching  one,  arrives,  her  politics,  notwithstanding  the  ''ma 
chinery"  oi  regular  nominations,  will  just  as  likely  as  not  have  undergone  a 
complete  French  Revolution.  She  will  never  govern  the  Union  for  she  can 
not  keep  her  helm  steady  long  enough  to  arrive  at  that  Port. 

I  am,  Dear  Sir,  Yours  very  truly, 

J.  K.  Paulding. 
Don't  use  my  name  publicly  in  connection  with  this  letter. 

W:  J:  DUANE  TO  T:  W.  WHITE. 

[Mr.  Duane  was  secretary  of  the  treasury  in  1833,  but  was  removed  by 
Jackson  for  refusing  to  take  the  government  deposits  from  the  U.  S.  Bank, 
the  House  of  Representatives  having  voted,  three  to  one,  that  the  deposits 
6t  not  to  be  removed.  Mr.  Duane  died  in  1865.  ] 

Philadelphia,  April  24,  1835. 
My  dear  Sir. 

I  have  thankfully  received  the  favors  which  you  had  the  good 
ness  to  send  to  me;  and  have  read  with  pleasure  and  instruction  the  speech 
delivered  by  Mr.  Brown.  The  copies  of  it  which  you  have  placed  at  my 
disposal  shall  be  carefully  and  usefully  disposed  of.  By  this  I  mean  that 
they  shall  be  put  into  the  hands  of  those  who  are  competent  t5  estimate 
merit.  As  to  producing  any  politically  useful  effect,  through  the  press,  at 
least  in  this  state,  it  is  not  to  be  expected  at  present.  Indeed  I  think  the 
number  of  purely  patriotic  men  is  small  everywhere.  Not  that  such  men 
are  not  in  existence,  but  that  we  do  not  see  them.  This  is  probably  owing  td 
the  cold  reception  they  meet  with ;  and  this  cold  reception  is  attributable  to 
the  disappointments  the  people  have  met  with.  The  actual  practice  of  Gen. 
Jackson,  for  instance,  has  been  the  very  reverse  of  his  professions.  So  that, 
after  such  an  instance  of  turn-coatism,  the  people  have  some  apology  for 
distrust.  We  want,  I  think,  a  class  of  men  who  would  labor  to  serve  their 
country  solely  from  the  delight  which  serving  it  would  yield.  I  mean  men 
who  would  not  seek  or  accept  offices  or  other  selfish  considerations.  No 
doubt  there  have  been  and  are  such  men,  but  if  you  will  look  over  the  list 
of  public  men,  for  fifty  years  past,  you  will  trace  in  almost  every  instance 
some  lurking  motive  besides  the  bare  love  of  country  and  of  liberty.  .  . 

With  kind  wishes,  truly  and  respectfully  yours, 

W.  J.  Duane. 


14  PAPERS  OF    R.   W.    GRISWOLD. 

In  May,  1835,  Griswold  was  editor  of  "  The  Democrat  and 
Inquirer"  of  Fredonia,  and  in  1836  of  the  Olean  "  Advocate." 

New  York,  Oct.  16th,  1836. 

Friend  Griswold,— 

.  .  .  You  ask  ine  in  your  letter  how  I  like  your  paper.  I  answer 
very  much  indeed.  Now  I  do  not  wish  to  flatter  you  in  the  Jeast  when  I  say 
that,  in  my  humble  opinion,  it  is  as  good  [  as  ]  if  not  superior  to  any  country 
paper  in  the  state.  .  . 

A  penny  paper  called  the  "Era"  was  started  a  few  days  since,  by  Mr. 
Locke,  the  author  of  the  "Moon  Story,"  and  Mr.  Price,  a  very  popular  con 
tributor  of  the  Mirror — they  are  both  very  talented  men — and  the  paper  so 
far  is  well  conducted.  I  think  it  will  equal,  if  not  surpass,  any  paper  in  the 
city.  The  Herald  came  out  on  them  the  first  day  the  paper  made  its  appear 
ance  ;  but  the  way  they  used  him  up  for  it  was  a  caution — the  Era  cut  him  all 
t5  pieces — Bennett  could  not  begin  to  hold  his  own  !  I  wTill  try  to  send  you 
the  papers  that  contain  the  articles — they  give  a  complete  sketch  of  his  life 
from  the  time  of  his  arrival  in  this  country  up  to  the  present  time — and  a 
chronological  table  of  all  the  "floggings,"  "kickings"  and  "buffetings"  he  has 
received — I  am  glad  of  it — he  is  a  great  rascal,  and  deserves  it. 

I  send  you  .  .  .  the  "Merchant  Clerk."  Bulwer's  drama  is  not  received 
yet;  we  expect  it  every  day — we  have  our  cases  filled,  and  all  the  quads  and 
italics  in  the  office  collected  together  ready  for  the  contest,  as  soon  as  we 
receive  the  copy.  We  executed  the  entire  work  of  "Lucien  Bonaparte"  and 
published  it  in  forty  hours  after  we  received  the  copy,  and  sold  it  at  three 
shillings.  We  did  not  leave  the  office  from  Tuesday  noon  until  Wednesday 
morning  nine  o'clock;  I  was  pretty  well  used  up,  I  assure  you ;  Fletcher 
Harper  gave  all  the  hands  a  splendid  supper  at  his  house  (which  is  a  few 
doors  from  the  office)  during  the  night;  it  was  the  most  magnificent  affair 
that  I  have  seen  for  a  long  time;  Fletcher  went  the  whole  "figure." 

We  have  received  part  of  the  copy  of  a  new  novel  by  James,  called  the 
"Desultory  Man" — we  expect  the  remainder  every  day.  I  see  that  Saunders 
and  Otley  have  announced  it  as  also  in  press — no  matter — I  think  our  John 
Bull  friends  will  become  tired  of  their  opposition,  and  will  be  glad  to  go 
home  after  they  lose  a  little  more  money.  Harpers  are  determined  to  strike 
And  spare  not. 


HARPERS. H:   J.   RAYMOND.  16 

We  have  likewise  commenced  the  "Memoirs  of  Col.  Burr"  in  2  vols. 
8vo.  We  have  also  announced  as  in  press,  "Rambles  in  Europe  by  Edwin 
Forrest,  with  a  memoir  of  the  author  by  William  Leggett,  Esq." — it  will  be 
very  popular.  We  have  just  published  "Bryant's  Poems" — it  is  a  beautiful 
work.  .  .  Write  soon. 

Yours  respectfully, 

Marcus  B.  Butler. 

Ip  March,  1837,  Griswold  married  Caroline  Searles,  and  for 
some  months  dwelt  with  her  family  at  51^  Clinton  St.,  New- 
York.  Before  the  close  of  this  year,  he  was  licensd  t6  preach. 
In  those  days,  however,  clergymen, — particularly  Baptists, — 
rarely  had  a  systematic  training,  and  it  is  not  probable  that 
his  studies  wer  either  thoro  or  long-continued. 

[  Thinking  that  the  autograph  mentioned  in  the  folloing  letter  might  hav 
literary  interest,  I  asked  the  librarian  of  the  university  about  it.  His  reply 
states  that  "  In  the  'GOties  the  society  came  to  be  neglected,  and  its  library 
was  pillaged  to  some  extent  by  the  members.  .  .  What  became  of  the  auto 
graph  in  question  no  one  can  now  tell."  ] 

University  of  Vt.,    Burlington,    Dec.  23, 1837. 
Sir, 

The  Phi  Sigma  Nu  Society  of  the  University  of  Vt.  have  elected 
you  to  an  honorary  membership  of  their  fraternity.  Should  you  think  fit 
to  accept  this  testimony  of  their  regard  you  will  please  signify  it  to  them 
through  me.— 

The  Society  would  also  present  their  sincerest  thanks  for  the  valuable 
autograph  of  Washington  Irving  which  was  given  by  yourself  to  the  society. 
With  great  respect  and  esteem  [  etc.  ] , 

H.  J.  Raymond,  See. 

In  September,  1837,  Griswold  (  aged  22  )  issued  the  pros 
pectus  of  a  magazine  t6  be  called  "The  Anthology."  He  was 
then  secretary  of  "The  Antiquarian  Society  of  New-York." 
In  Feb.,  1838,  "  The  Vermonter"  was  started  at  Vergennes 
with  Griswold  as  editor. 


16  PAPERS  OF  R.  W.  GRI8WOLD. 

New  York,  13th  Feb.,  1838. 
Rufus— 

Your  paper  came  to  hand  yesterday,  and  I  protest  it's  one  of  the 
best  Sues  I  have  got  hold  of  this  many  a  day.  You  have  got  it  out  a  month 
earlier  than  I  expected,  and  made  it  one  hundred  per  cent,  better  than  I 
fancied  you  would. 

You  do  stick  it  into  the  miserable  pirates  of  the  South  good ! — and  you 
don't  let  off  their  dirty  Tory  apologists  and  pimps  at  the  North  without  some 
good  solid  kicks.  Go  it,  Rufe !— it's  the  cause  of  both  God  and  man :  I  feel 
positive  of  this  fact,  if  I  never  did  of  anything  else.  Your  salutatory  is  an 
excellent  article :  you  never  wrote  a  better :  I  have  read  it  three  or  four 
times.  Greeley  .  .  .  has  gone  to  Albany  for  a  week  now,  and  we  have  Park 
Benjamin  in  his  place !  Park  is  a  steamboat,  I  promise  you.  Have  you  seen 
our  last  No.?  The  literary  notices  are  his,  and  the  Congress.  Dr.  Eldridge, 
a  new  owner,  writes  the  articles  over  the  dagger — nothing  very  bright.  But 
Park  is  the  boy  for  you.  Don't  he  saw  up  the  gag  "Gentleman's  Magazine" 
though !  Did  you  notice  a  little  article  of  his  on  the  outside  (from  the  Amer 
ican) — "The  Nautilus?"  It's  very  beautiful — and  we  have  another  this  week, 
which  was  originally  published  a  few  days  since  under  the  editorial  head  of 
the  Commercial  Advertiser — "The  Stormy  Petrel"  is  the  title.  Park  is  a 
splendid  writer.  The  Yorker  of  this  week  will  contain  an  original  "  Hymn 
at  Midnight  "  by  P.  B.— and  an  excellent  one  it  is  too.  .  . 

Bowe. 

[  Park  Benjamin  was  born  in  1809  in  British-Guiana.  He  began  the  prac 
tice  of  law  in  1833,  but  soon  relinquishd  it  for  the  pursuit  of  literary  journal 
ism,  in  which,  for  a  dozen  years  or  more,  he  was  conspicuous.  He  edited 
the  last  tw5  volumes  ( 1835 )  of  the  New-England  Magazine,  and  when  that 
was  merged  in  The  American  Monthly  Magazine,  he  transferrd  his  services 
t5  this.  Allibone  agrees  with  oTir  friend  Bowe  as  to  the  merit  of  Benjamin's 
poems,  saying  of  them  that  they  ar  "  of  exquisit  beauty.  "  I  thot  it  of  inter 
est  to  inquire  whether  the  judgment  of  his  contemporaries  had  been  con 
firmed  by  later  critics,  and  to  this  end  examind  all  the  anthologies  within 
reach  with  the  folloing  result :  No  poem  is  quoted  by  C :  A.  Dana  ( 1857 
and  1866),  Palmer  (1866),  W:  C.  Bryant  (1876),  Fields  and  Whipple 
( 1878),  or  Epes  Sargent  ( 1884  ).  A.  C.  Kendrick,  however  ( 1871 ),  prints 
"The  Sexton,"  C.  F.  Bates  (1882),  "Press  On,"  and  Stedman,  in  his 
"  Library,"  givs  "  A  Great  Name."  This  is  a  curious  outcome,  since  the 


BKNJAMIX. GOODRICH.  17 

last  two  can  not  hav  recollected  the  attention  which  the  verses  originally 
receivd,  while  the  first  six  would  naturally  hav  been  affected  by  their  mem 
ory  of  it. 

It  is  probable,  however,  that  Benjamin's  accomplishments  as  a  poet 
brot  him  into  notice  less  than  did  his  feats  as  a  journalist  and  critic. 
In  the  Southern  Literary  Messenger  for  Dec.  1835,  Poe  had  begun  his  slash 
ing  criticisms,  and  won  thereby  considerable  applause.  Benjamin  may  hav 
thot  that  there  was  room  for  him  in  the  same  field ,  but  he  seems  to  hav 
picked  out  a  victim  with  less  discrimination.  It  was  S :  G.  Goodrich  whom 
he  attackd,  and  tho  Goodrich,  as  a  poet,  is  even  more  completely  forgotten 
than  Benjamin  is,  the  public  then  did  not  approve  the  fun  Benjamin  tried  to 
hav  with  him.  The  Boston  "  Gazette  "  remarkd  that  his  criticism  was  "  evi 
dently  dictated  by  personal  pique,  is  unjust,  abusive,  sour  and  dirty,  and 
disgraces  the  magazine  in  which  it  appears;  "and  the  New-York  "Tran 
script"  said  :  "  Some  of  them  [the  reviews  ]  are  written  in  monstrously  bad 
taste  and  still  worse  temper.  They  are  flippant,  partial,  unjust  and  abusive. 
We  know  not  when  we  have  seen  a  number  combining  so  much  ill-temper, 
prejudice  and  unfairness  as  that  on  '  The  Outcast '  by  S.  G.  Goodrich." 

The  aggrievd  author,  moreover,  took  the  offensiv  in  a  long  letter  which 
was  printed  in  leaded  type  on  the  editorial  page  of  the  Boston  "Courier"  of 
5  May  1836.  It  shos  curiously  how  small  wer  the  interests  of  those  days  that 
such  a  matter  should  receive  so  much  attention.  The  letter  ran  thus  :— 

"  As  I  have  been  the  theme  of  frequent  discussion  in  the  American 
Magazine,  it  seems  to  me  a  matter  of  necessity  that  I  take  some  notice  of  it. 
.  .  .  The  May  number  has  .  .  .  the  same  strain  of  ridicule  and  vituperation. 
A  few  mouths  ago  he  placed  me  on  a  level  with  a  vender  of  quack  medi 
cines,— insinuated  that  I  was  guilty  of  rapacity  in  money  matters,  and  there 
fore  worthy  of  the  fate  of  Midas.  Now,  I  am  a  "  patcher  up  of  books  and 
pictures  in  multifarious  shapes," — a  ''  literary  cobbler,"  who  is  advised  "t5 
stick  to  his  last,"  etc.  .  . 

Mr.  Benjamin  has  doubtless  the  same  independence  in  morality  that  he  has 
in  criticism.  Where  his  passions  on  his  convenience  are  concerned,  he 
probably  sees  no  turpitude  in  indulged  malice,  and  no  lack  of  dignity  in  a 
lie.  He  doubtless  thought  himself  peculiarly  fitted  to  edit  the  Token.  .  .  In 
attempting,  therefore,  to  ruin  me  first  with  the  public,  then  to  deprive  me  of 
the  confidence  of  my  publisher,  and  finally  t5  take  a  place  which,  in  his 


18  PAPERS  OF  R.   W.   GRISWOLD. 

estimation,  I  unworthily  filled,  he  probably  only  thought  of  bringing  things 
to  their  right  arrangement.  .  .  I  think  I  have  said  enough  to  show  the  true 
character  of  this  Mr.  Benjamin,  enough  to  enable  the  public  to  understand 
the  spirit  which  guides  him  in  private  life,  and  presides  over  him  in  his 
critical  capacity."  ] 


Batavia,  Feb.  26,  1838. 
Dear  Brother: 

Having  a  moment  of  leisure  I  hasten  to  forward  you  such  in 
formation  as  I  have  been  able  to  gather  relative  to  the  movements  of  the 
Patriots  in  the  province  of  Canada.  A  Gentleman  of  this  village  received  a 
Letter  from  Detroit  this  morning  stating  that  twenty-one  hundred  Patriots 
had  crossed  over  from  Michigan  in  three  divisions  to  Canada  under  the  com 
mand  of  Gen.  Sutherland  and  McLeod  and  that  they  would  be  able  to  carry 
all  before  them. 

On  Saturday  evening  about  eight  a  body  crossed  over  eight  miles  above 
Buffalo  and  proceeded  direct  to  Hamilton.  Col.  Worth  having  notice  of  their 
movements  proceeded  to  the  point  from  whence  they  were  to  start  but  the 
Patriots  having  information  of  his  movements  took  up  their  line  of  march 
earlier  than  they  anticipated.  All  reached  Canada  safe  save  about  fifty  who 
were  taken  by  Worth  together  with  four  cannon ,  which  by  the  way  the  patri 
ots  could  well  spare  having  more  of  that  kind  than  they  could  use  to  advan 
tage.  I  received  a  letter  from  a  Gentleman  at  Lockport  stating  that  one 
hundred  sleighs  passed  through  that  place  on  Friday  night  [going]  west  and 
Saturday  a  number  more.  They  reported  that  they  were  a  going  out  on  a 
Wolf  hunt.  The  number  of  men  was  not  mentioned  but  some  says  a  number 
of  hundred.  The  Arsenal  at  this  place  has  been  broken  open  within  the  last 
week  and  eighty  stands  of  arms  and  nineteen  hundred  and  fifty  pounds 
powder  was  taken  out.  They  are  ere  this  undoubtedly  at  Hamilton  or 
Toronto.  A  rumor  well  authenticated  is  in  circulation  that  Van  Rensselaer 
has  taken  Kingston,  Maiden,  Toronto.  Hamilton  and  Queenstown  are  ere 
this  beyond  a  doubt  in  the  hands  of  the  Patriots.  The  above  information 
you  may  rely  upon  as  being  substantially  correct.  .  .  The  greatest  excitement 
prevails  on  this  frontier.  .  .  Ever  your  Brother,  etc., 

S.  Parsons  Griswold. 


POETICS    AM)    TRAVEL.  19 

New  York,  14  March,  1838. 
My  dear  Rufe — 

...  Oh  you  rascalle !  how  you  spoiled  my  verses  "On  the  Death  of 
a  Friend"  by  your  poor  emendation  of  the  second  line !— I  wouldn't  have 
had  it  done  for  two  shillings ;  and  I  am  positive  you  would  have  let  it  alone 
had  you  bestowed  a  thought  and  a  half  upon  it.  Let  me  illustrate : — I  had 
it — "Forever  closed  on  earth  her  radiant  eye; "  meaning,  evidently,  that  she 
saw  no  longer  the  things  of  time  and  sense;  but  Lord,  man!  I  wished  to 
leave  her  vision  of  the  heavenly  world  clear  and  cloudless:  and  now  see 
what  you  have  done  with  it!  "Forever  closed  her  meek  and  radiant  eye!" 
Damn  that  word  "meek" — how  I  do  hate  it! — I  hate  it  anywhere  and  every- 
wh6re,  but  above  all  things  in  that  line.  Don't  you  see  it  is  utterly  incon 
sistent  with  the  other  adjective  radiant?  To  say  that  an  eye  is  radiant  means 
that  it  is  bright  and  sparkling;  to  call  the  same  eye  meek  is  arrant  nonsense 
— for  meek  is  mild,  soft,  subdued. — Moreover  your  improvement  (  !)  has 
materially  injured  the  effect  of  some  of  the  subsequent  lines,  by  weakening 
their  connection  with  the  second — as  you  have  now  got  the  eyes  fully  and 
totally  sealed,  alike  upon  Time  and  Eternity.  .  . 

Bowe. 


New  York,  22  April,  1838. 

.  .  .  Rufus!  take  the  name  of  that  scoundrel,  Henry  Clay,  out  of 
your  paper!  He  is  too  mean  a  foe  to  the  Abolitionists  ever  t5  deserve  a  vote 
from  you  or  I,  or  any  other  man  who  has  any  regard  for  the  right.  Do  you 
have  Whittier's  paper?  If  not,  read  the  extracts  from  it  on  the  first  page  of 
the  last  "Emancipator"  and  be  ashamed  of  Clay!  .  .  .  Your  ob't  serv't, 

Obadiah  Allen  Bowe. 


Vergennes,  [  10  May,  1838.  ] 
My  Dear  Mothe'r  and  Brother : 

'Tis  Sunday,  one  week  ago  tonight  we  were  together.  Now, 
many  a  mile  separates  us !  But  I  have  arrived  at  my  journey's  end,  safe,  and 
as  well  as  could  be  expected.  .  .  The  Packet  [canal-boat]  leaves  [Troy]  once 
a  day,  eleven  o'clock  [A.M.].  I  got  at  Whitehall  by  five  o'clock  the  next 
morning,  the  Packet  was  uncomfortable  from  the  great  number  of  passen 
gers,  we  had  shelfs  to  lay  on,  wide  enough  to  sit  a  plate.  I  sat  up  all  night 
and  held  Sis.  God  grant  I  may  not  pass  another  such  a  night  very  soon. 


20  PAPERS  OF   R.   W.   GRISWOLD. 

The  people  at  Troy  were  very  kind,  I  like  them  much.  Elizabeth 
Grisvvold  and  Mrs.  Richards  went  as  far  as  Waterford  with  me,  it  being  clear 
for  about  two  hours  the  morning  I  left  Troy,  the  only  time  the  sun  visited 
me  on  my  lonely  way.  On  my  arrival  at  Whitehall  I  awaited  the  coming  of 
the  steamboat  most  anxiously  that  was  to  bear  my  good  husband  to  me,  but 
in  vain,  he  came  not.  I  felt  as  though  I  was  friendless,  alone,  at  a  hotel,  in 
a  strange  place  with  a  sick  babe,  and  myself  not  much  better,  but  I  thought 
of  Mrs.  Cairns'  old  friend,  Providence,  by  that  try  to  drive  away  melan 
choly.  I  found  many  who  knew  Rufus,  among  the  best  one  Mr.  Huntington, 
a  merchant  from  Yergennes,  the  name  of  Mrs.  R.  W.  Griswold  was  all  suffi 
cient,  it  commanded  attention  from  all  quarters.  I  accepted  the  protection 
of  Mr.  Huntington,  from  whom  I  received  every  attention.  We  got  at  Ver- 
gennes  about  nine  o'clock  Saturday  evening.  Rufus  did  not  receive  my 
letter  in  time  to  take  the  boat ;  it  stops  at  Vergennes  about  ten  o'clock  in  the 
evening  and  gets  to  Whitehall  in  the  morning,  leaves  again  at  one,  it  does 
not  go  but  once  a  day  from  either  place.  I  found  that  I  had  made  wrong 
calculation.  I  regretted  not  taking  the  line  boat,  they  are  much  more  com 
modious,  and  attended  with  less  expense,  the  fare  in  Packet  two  dollars,  in 
Steamer  from  Whitehall  two  dollars.  Meals  extra,  then  you  go  seven  miles 
by  stage— that  is  one  dollar  I  believe.  Never  mind,  I  got  here  safe  with  two 
shillings  in  my  pocket,  to  the  very  great  astonishment  of  Rufus.  Had  he  been 
us,  he  would  spoil  the  face  of  thirty  dollars.  Nothing  like  stretching  funds. 
I  fear  mother,  that  I  shall  weary  you,  but  you  must  bear  with  me,  I  have 
much  to  tell  you,  oh !  if  you  were  here,  you  must  come,— indeed.  [  Wednes 
day  ]  I  like  our  house  very  much,  it  is  two  story  brick,  very  convenient, 
every  time  I  go  down  to  it  I  make  a  discovery,  another  closet  or  bedroom 
meets  my  eye.  Mother,  you  had  better  move  here,  and  we  would  open  a 
boarding-house.  I  don't  know  when  I  shall  get  my  things  in  order,  that  is 
if  we  ever  get  them.  .  .  I  must  content  myself  here  [at  the  inn]  for  the 
remainder  of  the  week,  much  against  my  will,  though  the  people  are  very 
kind,  somewhat  too  much  so  for  my  comfort.  I  would  rather  be  to  myself 
more.  It  takes  all  my  time  to  dress  Sis  and  myself.  She  almost  worships 
[me?].  I  cannot  scarce  breathe  a  wish  ere  it's  gratified.  The  people  here 
are  very  fashionable,  and  all  whom  I  have  met  with  appear  very  intelligent 
and  well  educated.  I  but  too  sensibly  feel  my  inability  to  fill  the  place,  in 
that  sphere  in  which  I  am  to  move,  every  word  and  action  of  the  Editor's 
wife  is  noted.  No  matter!  I'll  play  off  the  Lady  so  far  as  my  better  moni 
tor,  judgment,  will  allow;  there  are  many  Ladys  and  Gentlemen  boarding 


ANTI-SLAVERY  AGITATION.  21 

here.  1  am  obliged  to  dress  for  dinner;  another  for  tea,  in  the  intermedium 
be  prepared  for  visitors.  Pianofortes  are  quite  as  common  as  in  New- 
York.  .  . 

Caroline  Griswold. 


U.  V.,  June  3,  1838. 
Dear  Griswold : — 

.  .  .  Can  you  find  out  who  wrote  an  article  in  the  New  Yorker  of 
April  28,  entitled  "Thoughts  on  Poetic  Excellence,"  wherein  my  review  is 
somewhat  [severely]  handled. — I  believe  the  first  writing  I  can  get  time  to 
do  must  be  for  Greeley  to  answer  that.  If  you  have  a  chance  to  do  it  with 
out  inconvenience  I  would  also  be  obliged  to  you  if  you  would  procure  from 
Greeley  for  me  3  or  4  copies  of  those  Nos.  of  the  "N.  Yorker"  that  contain 
my  notice  of  Dana.  I  have  no  copy  now,  and  I  should  like  one  t5  send  to 
Dana,  as  well  as  one  or  two  for  some  friends.  .  .  Yours  sincerely, 

H.  J.  Raymond. 


"  Telegraph"  Office,  Brandon,  June.28,  1838. 
Friend  Griswold : — 

We  want  you  to  come  to  Brandon  and  give  us  an  Anti-Slavery 
address  on  the  4th  proximo.  .  .  You  have  doubtless  some  arrangement,  in 
part  at  least,  of  ideas  on  this  great  and  momentous  subject,  that  will  enable 
you  to  do  the  cause  a  good  service  by  coming  to  Brandon  on  that  day.  We 
will  bear  your  expenses.  Most  truly  yours, 

O.  S.  Murrav. 


[  Bowe  had  become  editor  and  publisher  of  a  paper  at  Herkimer,  a  town 
in  the  Mohawk  valley  fourteen  miles  from  Utica.  ] 

Herkimer,  10  July,  1838. 

.  .  .  Had  a  confab  with  Thurlow  Weed  in  Albany.  Thurlow 
says  you  are  an  imprudent  dog,  and  will  ruin  the  Whig  cause  in  Vermont. 
I  told  him  it  would  take  half  a  dozen  pretty  smart  fellows  to  do  that.  .  . 

Bowe. 


Ashland  [postmarkd  Lexington ],  28th  July,  1838. 
Dear  Sir : 

1  have  received  your  letter  informing  me  that  at  the  Whig  Con 
vention  lately  held  in  Vermont,  some  of  the  members  who  were  friendly  to 


HENRY   CLAY. 

me  determined  to  eause  an  enquiry  to  be  made  of  me  whether,  should  it  be 
deemed  necessary  at  a  Convention  to  be  holden  in  the  fall,  to  ask  my  senti 
ments  on  the  Slavery  question,  I  will  [would?]  answer,  and  permit  the 
answer  to  be  published?  And  the  particular  enquiries  which  you  state  it  is 
desired  to  put  to  me  are.  Has  Congress  power  over  slavery  in  the  District  of 
Columbia?  Has  it  power  to  regulate  the  Slave  trade  between  the  States,  &c? 

I  have,  at  the  last  Session  of  Congress,  expressed,  in  the  Senate,  my 
sentiments  fully  on  the  subjects  of  your  letter,  in  the  form  of  a  series  of 
resolutions,  and  of  speeches,  which  I  addressed  to  that  body.  As  to  the  D. 
of  Col.  I  thought  that  Congress  could  not  abolish  slavery  th6re  without  a 
violation  of  good  faith ;  and  that  Congress  had  no  power  to  prevent  the 
rein5val  of  slaves  from  one  Slave  state  to  another. 

Having  thus  so  recently  publicly  expressed  my  views,  I  confess  that 
I  do  not  perceive  the  necessity  of  any  new  expression  of  them.  I  will  not 
say  that  I  should  not  answer  such  a  letter  as  you  describe  to  be  the  intention 
of  some  of  my  friends  to  address  to  me ;  but  I  must  think  it  not  necessary. 

It  is  remarkable  that,  at  the  very  moment  when  I  am  replying  to  you, 
I  have  before  me  several  letters  from  the  South  stating  that  I  am  charged 
there  with  being  an  Abolitionist.  With  great  respect,  I  am  Yours  faithfully, 

H.  Clay. 


Herkimer,  Aug.,  1838. 

...  I  haven't  seen  the  Locofoco  report  of  your  speech  at  Montpelier, 
though  I  should  like  to— for  I  saw  the  allusions  of  the  Vermont  Patriot 
thereto  in  Whittier's  paper.  ..  Do  you  have  Whittier's  "Freeman?"  I  get 
that  and  the  "Emancipator"  and  the  "Friend  of  Man"— the  Liberator  won't 
send,  but  I  don't  care  no  great  about  it.  I  can't  go  the  figure  against  the 

d d  pirates,  as  I  should  like  most  dearly;  our  friends  here,  some  of  them 

— are  shocked  to  death  if  you  name  the  name  of  Abolition — the  fools ! — But  I 
did  announce  the  Freedom  of  the  British  West  Indies  in  yesterday's  paper. 
.  .  .  Curse  this  miserable,  this  shameful  fear  of  the  topic  of  Abolition! — it's 
all  ignorance,  every  atom! 

Bowe. 


Burlington,  Vt.,  Sept.  24,  1838. 
My  dear  Griswold : 

...  On  my  journey  homeward  I  saw  Greeley  and  was  very  much 
pleased  with  him.    Your  letter  of  introduction  came  too  late,  so  I  was  forced 


ANTI-SLAVERY  AGITATION.  23 

t5  introduce  myself :  but  as  he  is  not  very  much  devoted  to  ceremonious 
observances,  it  made  but  little  difference.  He  made  many  inquiries  about 
you,  all  of  which  I  satisfied  as  well  as  I  could. 

Do  you  know  anything  about  the  probable  result  of  your  projected 
"Anthology?"  I  sincerely  hope  that  you  will  not  give  it  up.  Cannot  you 
enlist  someone  with  you  who  would  carry  through  the  business  part  of  it?— 
It  is  needed  and  I  believe  desired,  which  with  booksellers  is  more  t5  the 
purpose.  How  comes  on  your  History  of  Vt.?  Yours  sincerely, 

Henry  J.  Raymond. 


[  "  *  My  own  position  touching  slavery,'  wrote  Clay  in  Nov.  1838,  'is  singu 
lar  enough.  The  abolitionists  are  denouncing  me  as  a  slaveholder,  and 
slaveholders  as  an  abolitionist,  while  both  unite  on  Van  Buren' .  .  .  His 
course  with  regard  to  the  anti-slavery  petitions,  as  well  as  his  occasional 
profession  of  sentiments  unfriendly  to  slavery,  had  injured  his  popularity 
with  the  slaveholders.  .  .  arid  it  is  probable  that  Southern  Whigs,  many 
of  whom,  while  his  friends,  were  firm  pro-slavery  men,  suggested  t5  him  the 
policy  of  setting  himself  right  with  the  South.  In  February,  1839,  he  made  a 
speech  which  had  all  the  appearance  of  an  attempt  on  his  part  to  do  this.  " 
Schurz'  "  Clay,"  ii,  164.] 

"  Old  Democratic  Herkimer, "  Feb.  28th,  1839. 
I  say,  Rufus ! — 

-  How  do  you  prosper  on  an  average? — Do  the  Varmounters  pat 
ronize,  pay  up,  and  let  you  live?— or  do  you  drag  along  barely  from  hand  t5 
mouth— and  not  hardly  that,  some  of  the  time— getting  cursedly  in  debt,  and 

your  customers  not  caring  a  d n  for  anything  else,  so  they  get  their  own 

turn  served  regularly  once  a  week?  That's  the  way  some  of  mine  ''patron 
ize"  me — and  among  them  are  sundry  of  the  most  vociferous  Whigs  in  this 
section, — the  d — d  impostors! — "I  have  a  theory"  as  the  fellow  said,  that  the 
term  "Whig,"  in  its  genuine,  legitimate  sense,  means  an  honest,  intelligent, 
decent  man  :  consequently  all  the  cursed  loafers  who  pretend  to  hail  under 
the  title,  swindling  and  lying  you  out  of  your  just  dues — (for  promising 
eternally,  without  the  shadow  or  design  of  performance,  is  the  meanest  lying 
I  knowr  of),  are  so  many  blasted,  infernal  pirates,  against  whom  it  is  the  duty 
of  every  decent  man  to  set  his  face — aye,  and  kick  his  foot,  too !  .  .  . 

What  the  devil  has  become  of  your  Abolition? — publishing  that  cursed, 
lying,  slanderous  speech  of  Clay's  without  a  word   of  comment!    I  gave  in 


24  HENRY  CLAY. 

the  Journal  an  abstract  which  I  found  in  one  of  the  papers,  and  made  a 
remark  or  two  upon  the  foolish  lies  which  Clay  is  guilty  of— and,  Heaven 
defend  us!— what  a  kicking  and  squirming  there  is  among  the  "  Whigs  "  of 
this  county!  I  am  throwing  " fire  brands"  into  the  party,  and  fairly  raised 
h — 11.  But  it  won't  do.  While  I  am  prepared  to  go  for  Clay  in  preference 
to  Van  Buren,  "  if  worst  comes  to  worst,"  I  never  will  stand  tamely  by,  and 
see  the  True  Friends  of  Freedom  assailed  with  lousy  lies  from  any  quarter. 
That's  what  I  am — and  where  I  am:  do  you  take?  Come,  let  us  see  you 
"  chaw  up  "  that  speech  as  it  deserves : — None  of  your  winking  and  blinking : 
come  up  to  the  scratch !  You  can  safely  say  five  words  in  Vermont  against 
the  hellish  system  of  slavery,  where  I  can  say  one  here,  among  these  benight 
ed  pagans.  .  . 

Bowe. 


Herkimer,  Mar.  12,  1839. 
Rufus,  my  friend  : — 

Yours  of  the  4th  .  .  .  was  perused  with  mingled  emotions  of  pain 
and  pleasure;— pain  that  the  Whigs  of  the  Green  Mountain  State— my  own 
state — should  so  nearly  resemble  their  delinquent,  office-seeking,  pro-slavery 
brethren  of  this  benighted  region ;  and  pleasure, — not  that  you  seemed  no 
better,  but  that  after  all  my  trials  and  troubles  and  tribulations,  I  am  not 
worse  off  than  some  others.  .  . 

Sundry  of  our  Whig  leaders  hereabouts  kicked  terribly  at  my 
remarks  upon  Clay,  brief  as  they  were ;— but  I  don't  and  didn't  care  a  damn ! 
Clay  is  making  an  everlasting  booby  of  himself,  and  (if  he  don't  look  out) 
ruining  his  chance  at  the  North,— all  for  the  sake  of  conciliating  the  blood 
hounds  of  the  South.  .  . 

O.  A.  Bowe. 

In  March,  1834,  Gieeley,  then  23,  in  company  with  Jonas 
Winchester,  started  '  The  New  Yorker.'  "It  was,"  he  says 
(writing  in  1867  ) ,  "  a  large,  fair,  and  cheap  weekly  folio  (after 
ward  changed  t6  a  double  quarto  ) ,  devoted  mainly  t6  current 
literature,  but  giving  regularly  a  digest  of  all  important  news.  .  . 
The  New  Yorker  was  issued  under  my  supervision,  its  editori 
als  written,  its  selections  made,  for  the  most  part,  by  me,  for 


HORACE   GHEKLKY.  25 

7*/£  years.  .  .  It  was,  at  length,  extensively  liked  and  read. 
It  began  with  scarcely  a  dozen  subscribers ;  these  steadily 
increased  t6  9000,  .  .  .  but  it  was  sent  to  subscribers  on  credit, 
and  a  large  share  of  them  never  paid  .  .  .  while  the  cost  of 
collecting  from  others  ate  up  the  proceeds.  .  .  I  worked  hard 
and  lived  frugally  during  its  existence." 

From  his  earliest  youth,  Greeley  lovd  farming,  for  the  moral 
and  physical  advantages  connected  with  it,  while  he  pain 
fully  realized, — as  he  had  good  cause  to, — how  difficult  it  was 
t6  gain  even  the  barest  living  in  a  purely  agricultural  commun 
ity.  Hence  his  ingraind  belief  in  the  need  of  diversified  indus 
tries,  which  could  be  gotten,  hethdt,  only  by  means  of  protectiv 
taxes.  So  bred  in  the  bone  was  this  idea  that,  tho  'The  New 
Yorker'  claimd  t6  be  non-partisan,  Thurlow  Weed  clearly 
perceivd  the  editor's  bent.  "  In  casting  about  for  an  editor 
[of  a  Protectionist  campaign  paper],"  he  says,  "it  occurred 
t6  me  that  there  was  some  person  connected  with  the  '  New 
Yorker'  possessing  the  qualities  needed.  In  reading  the  '  New 
Yorker'  I  felt  sure  that  its  editor  was  a  strong  tariff  man.  .  .  I 
repaired  to  the  office  .  .  .  and  inquired  for  its  editor.  A  young 
man  with  light  hair  and  blond  complexion,  with  coat  off  and 
sleeves  rolled  up,  standing  at  the  case,  stick  in  hand,  replied 
that  lie  was  the  editor.  This  youth  was  Horace  Greeley." 
FROM  H.  GREKLEY,  AGED  28. 

New  York,  March  18,  1839. 

R.  W.  Griswold,  Esq.— 

I  say!  I  haven't  any  good  reason  for  writing  to  you  at  present ; 
but  there  is  an  unanswered  letter  from  you  in  the  bottom  of  my  hat,  and  a 
few  minutes  to  spare  before  I  must  go  to  my  dinner  and  the  Daily  Whig,  so 
here  goes :  .  .  .  Your  poem  Ben  swears  he  never  received.  Perhaps  he  did 
and  perhaps  he  didn't,  but  he  loses  things  worse  than  I  d5,  even. 


26  POLITICS.— THE  NEW-YORKER. 

You  appear  to  have  resolved  to  stick  at  Vergemies.  Well,  be  it  so; 
I  rejoice  that  you  find  reason  for  so  doing,  but  you  could  be  much  more  ser 
viceable  in  Essex.  We  want  a  smart  paper  in  the"re.  With  such  a  one  we 
could  not  have  lost  the  District  so  shamefully.  I  could  cry  about  it  now. 
Some  one  wh5,  like  yourself  could  conciliate  the  Abolitionists,  with  a  little 
of  the  sagacity  and  discretion  which  I  trust  you  are  learning,  would  be  inval 
uable  there. 

What  will  you  do  in  Vermont  about  President:'  Anybody  but  Clay  is 
out  of  the  question;  and  yet  his  Abolition  speech  will,  I  fear,  prove  insuper 
able  there.  What  is  to  be  d5ne?  Run  a  Harrison  ticket?  I  should  terribly 
hate  to  see  Vermont  vote  for  Van  Buren  now  :  An  apostacy  to  Toryism  at 

r 

its  last  gasp  would  be  so  besotted  an  act  that  I  should  have  to  forsw&ir  Ver 
mont  as  my  parent  state  and  fall  back  upon  New  Hampshire.  -What  can  you 
do?  I  pray  that  as  little  as  possible  be  risked  in  any  event.  I  think  this  will 
be  the  best  plan  :  Hold  a  strong  Whig  Convention  and  nominate  an  Electoral 
Ticket  that  will  command  public  confidence;  then  let  every  Whig  vote  the 
ticket  headed  "  For  Pres't :  Wm.  H.  Harrison  "  or  ;'  Henry  Clay,"  as  he  shall 
prefer,  and  let  the  [men  on  the  electoral]  ticket  be  pledged  to  vote  as  the 
majority  of  the  people  shall  decide.  Wouldn't  that  do?  Please  suggest  it 
among  your  People.  I  wish  Vermont  could  find  it  in  her  heart  to  vote  for 
Clay,  but  at  any  rate  she  must  not  vote  for  Van  Buren.  Do  let  the  matter  be 
earnestly  considered  with  a  sincere  desire  on  all  hands  to  avert  the  great 
calamity. 

As  to  our  own  prospects  here  (  New  Yorker )  I  hardly  know  what  to 
say.  Our  subscription  [list]  is  rather  on  the  increase,  but  payments  are 
slack  still  and  we  have  rather  hard  sledding.  We  shall  do  better,  I  hope, 
now  that  the  Rivers  are  opening  and  our  New  Volume  commencing.  I  have 
had  toil  and  anxiety  enough  with  that  paper  to  make  it  profitable  some  time, 
but  I  never  expect  to  find  it  so.  I  would  gladly  sell  my  interest  in  it  for  a 
song,  to  any  one  who  possessed  talent  and  capital  to  carry  it  on. 

I  think  better  of  my  new  pet,  the  Whig.  I  write  the  Editorial  for  that, 
and  edit  it  generally.  Don't  you  think  it's  better  than  formerly?  If  not  it's 
wretched  bad,  that's  a  fact.  It  is  rather  gaining  in  patronage.  .  . 

My  wife  has  seen  sorrow  enough  within  the  last  year.  Broken  in 
health  and  borne  down  with  dyspepsia  for  years,  she  sustained  a  severe 
injury  before  the  birth  of  her  child  [who  died  in  infancy  ],  and  was  nearly 
killed  when  that  birth  took  place.  She  has  not  yet  recovered,  but  now  lies 
helpless  from  cruel  surgical  operations  (  recent )  by  which  she  hopes  to  re- 


C.    W.    KYKHEST.  27 

cover.    She  has  to  be  lifted  from  bed  to  bed,  but  I  trust  will  soon  be  about 
and  hearty. 

I  mean  t5  go  West  this  summer,  if  I  can  possibly  raise  the  funds. 
How  that  will  be  I  cannot  tell.  I  get  nothing  from  the  Yorker,  as  that  never 
pays  Editors  a  farthing,  but  Wilson  gives  me  $12  a  week  to  edit  the  Whig, 
and  I  live  upon  that.  I  have  some  hopes  to  get  a  little  funds  from  the  sale 
of  the  third  quarter  of  the  New  Yorker:  if  so  I'm  off.  .  .  Yours  truly, 

H.  Greeley. 


[C:  W:  Everest  was  born  In  Conn,  in  1814,  and  died  there  in  1877.  His 
name,  as  that  of  a  magazine  poet,  was  familiar  in  the  forties,  but  is  not  to  be 
found  in  the  '  Library  of  American  Literature.'  ] 

Fayetteville,  N.  C.,  April  5, 1839. 

.  .  .  Here  I  am  in  North  Carolina,  engaged  in  the  "  delightful 
task"  of  thumping  some  faint  "  idea  "  of  Latin  Grammar  into  the  youthful 
skull.  My  "  school "  is  comprised  of  5  boys  in  all— tw5  pupils  besides, young 
gentlemen  advanced,  with  whom  I  was  acquainted  at  the  North,  and  one  of 
whom  was  in  College  with  me.  The  duties,  in  all,  engage  me  about  seven 
hours  in  the  day — and  the  situation  is  a  pleasant  one.  .  .  I  am  in  a  charming 
family,  and  the  society  is  good.  As  to  the  South,  from  what  little  I  see  of  it, 
I  like  it  very  well— but  have  not  much  idea  of  becoming  a  Southerner.  I  am 
wedded  to  the  hills  and  dales  of  my  own  New  England.  Warm  skies,  and 
evergreen  woods,  and  singing  birds  are  delightful,  but  the  velvet  turf— the 
.swelling  upland — the  rolling  river — and  the  rock  and  the  mountain  for  me! 
Write  me  soon — write  me  long — and  believe  me  ever  to  remain.  .  . 

C.  W.  Everest. 


Richmond  [Vermont],  May  15,  1839. 
My  dear  Griswold  :— 

.  .  .  The  Tories  have  of  course  expended  their  malignity  in  piti 
ful  tilts  and  knowing  quotations  from  your  columns  (  perverted,  of  course), 
and  seem  to  lay  hold  of  the  Argus  lies  with  an  avidity  which  manifests  but 
too  clearly  how  they  feared  and  hated  you,  and  how  relieved  they  were  by 
your  departure.  The  fact  is  you  have  been  an  ever  present  thorn  in  the 
sides  of  the  Tories  and  some  of  the  Whigs  in  this  State.  And  you  must  of 
course  expect  the  concentrated  thunder  of  malediction  from  the  whole  corps 
of  ragamuffin  scribblers.  .  . 

[E.  A.J  Stansbury. 


28  VERMONT    POLITICS. 

[Since  the  last  date,  Griswold.  doubtless  thro  Greeley's  help,  had  gotteu  a 
place  on  the  '  The  Daily  Whig.' 

At  the  time  of  the  incident  referred  to.  Greeley  f  aged  17)  was  au 
apprentice  in  the  office  of  a  paper  published  in  Poultney ;  he  writes  of  itr 
in  his  'Recollections,'  as  follows : —  "  Our  paper  was  intensely  Adams 
and  Clay  in  the  Presidential  struggle  of  1828,  and  our  whole  community 
sympathized  with  its  preference.  The  defection  of  our  State's  foremost 
politician,  Governor  Cornelius  P.  Van  Ness,  after  he  had  vainly  tried, 
while  professing  to  be  an  Adams  man,  to  vault  from  the  Governor's  chair 
into  the  U.  S.  Senate,  created  a  passing  ripple  on  the  face  of  the  current, 
but  did  not  begin  to  stem  it."  Van  Ness  received  the  reward  of  his 
treachery  in  the  appointment,  March,  1829,  as  envoy  to  Spain,  which  he  held 
eight  years.  Tn  1844-45  he  was  collector  of  New- York.  He  died  15  Dec., 
1852.  ] 

Richmond  [Vermont],  June  13,  1839. 
Dear  Griswold : 

...I  am  pleased  to  perceive  that  you  have  "  lighted"  on  an 
Editorship  so  adroitly,  and  cannot  but  congratulate  you  on  having  relinquish 
ed  a  precarious  country  hebdominal  for  the  more  steadfast  and  dependable 
daily  which  now  claims  the  fruits  of  your  quill.  .  .  That  old  Renegade  C.  P. 
Van  Ness  came  here  yesterday,  and  all  the  faithful  turned  out  in  shoals  to 
salute  him — guns  were  fired — speeches  made,  and  a  fearful  fuss  created — 
and  all  for  the  man  who  went  over  to  a  corrupt  party,  as  it  were  to  take 
vengeance  on  his  native  state,  for  refusing  to  gratify  the  immediate  wants 
of  his  grasping  ambition !  and  then  disgraced  the  nation  .  .  .  for  two  or 
three  years  after  he  was  recalled  as  ambassador!  Shame,  I  say,  on 
such  cursed  proceedings.  He  will  do  now  for  a  '  Vanite '  of  the  first  water. 

Yours, 

Stansbury. 

The  publication  of  '  The  Brother  Jonathan '  was  begun  by 
Wilson  &  Co.,  1  July,  1839,  with  Benjamin  as  editor  and 
Griswold  as  his  assistant.  It  was  a  paper  of  only  four  pages, 
but  occasionally  these  wer  of  immense  size.  'The  Tattler' 
was  a  daily  issued  under  the  same  management.  Before  long 
the  editors  had  some  difficulty  with  the  publisher  which  causd 


"  THE  BROTHER  JONATHAN.  "  29 

them  to  withdraw,  and  they  induced  Winchester  t6  start  rivals 
both  of  the  weekly  and  the  daily  paper  under  the  names  of 
'  The  New  World '  and  '  The  Signal.'  The  tw6  weeklies  differd 
from  Greeley's  paper  in  that  they  wer  more  exclusivly  literary ; 
but  only  an  insignificant  part  of  their  contents  was  original. 
After  1841  and  1840  they  appeard  in  quarto  and  "library" 
editions. 

Burlington,  July  20,  1839. 
My  dear  Griswold : 

The  first  intimation  I  had  of  your  whereabouts  determined  me  to 
write  to  you :  lacking  time  just  then,  I  delayed  it  for  a  few  days,  when  the 
arrival  of  the  "  Tattler"  called  my  resolution  to  mind;  and  the  subsequent 
reception  of  that  up-to-the-sky-to-be-lauded,  biggest-of-all-possible-news- 
papers,  and  most  beloved  of  all  brethren,  "  Brother  Jonathan"  made  me 
resolve  "  in  the  gloomy  recesses  of  a  mind  capacious  for  such  things  "to 
despatch  an  epistle  to  your  address  about  the  quickest.  How  do  you  flourish? 
How  I  would  like  to  shake  your  dexter,  and  see  you  shake  your  sides,  as  of 
old !  And  wouldn't  I  like  to  ramble  over  your  Library  again,  and  hear  you 
tell  your  stories  and  talk  scandal  as  is  your  wont?  "  0 1  no  certainly  not"  I 
How  on  airth  do  you  expect  to  find  matter  enough  to  keep  Brother  Jonathan 
alive  for  any  length  of  time !  He  is  even  infinitely  more  rapacious  than  other 
Yankees.  In  the  course  of  about  a  year  you  will  have  published  all  that  has 
ever  been  written :  and  at  the  same  rate  in  just  about  another  year  you  will 
get  through  with  all  that  you  can  write :  and  then  what  will  do?  The  appear 
ance  of  this  hugest  of  mammoths  caused  no  small  stir  among  the  good  citi 
zens  of  this  unaccustomed-to-large-sights  seeing  place.  Winslow  ( he  of  the 
Sentinel)  was  in  the  P.  O.  when  I  received  it:  and  you  would  have  laughed 
t5  have  listened  to  his  exclamations  as  I  unfolded  the  sheet  to  his  wonder 
struck  eyes,  and  announced  old  Kufus  W.,of  the  Vermonter,  as  Editor. 
He  ended  his  outburst  by  this  sober  sentiment:  "  Well,"  said  he,  "  no  one 

can  deny  that  Griswold  is  talented  and  industrious :  but  he  is  too  d d 

unscrupulous ! — You  were  not  very  scrupulous  in  your  notices  of  the  Bur 
lington  Sentinel !— Stacy's  eyes  stuck  out  just  one  mile.  And  Harrington's 
too :  you  ought  t5  have  seen  him.— The  copy  you  sent  me  has  been  the  rounds 
of  the  College.  A  deputation  from  each  class  of  10  made  an  attack  upon  it  in 


30  VERMONT   UNIVERSITY. 

full  and  solid  phalanx,  and  after  a  hard  siege  of  10  hours  retired  from  the 
field  and  encamped  for  the  night.  The  battle  was  renewed  at  daybreak  with 
increased  vigor  and  proportionate  success.  And  now  we  are  waiting  for 
another  number.  Please  to  consider  me  a  subscriber. — Stansbury  has  not 
been  here  since  the  4th  of  July.  He  will  not  stay  away  long,  however:  for 
there  is  a  certain  pair  of  gold  spectacles  here  that  fit  his  eyes  exactly.  He 
wants  to  get  them :  you  recollect  the  Yankee  that  ( on  a  wager )  would  sell 
his  house  for  a  penny,  but  the  buyer  must  take  his  cat  for  $100.  There's 
just  such  a  fixture  t5  Ed's  spectacles;  I  guess  he'll  take  both  and  be  content 
with  the  bargain.  (The  comparison  is  not  good  but 'twill  do). — What  an 
abominably  stupid  thing  the  Vermonter  is  now !  Pierpont  and  Grandey,  I 
think,  write  most  of  the  Editorials.— Grandey  has  not  shown  himself  this  long 
time.  .  . 

College  matters  jog  on  with  their  usual  monotony.  Our  Commence 
ment  happens  the  6th  Aug.  We  are  expecting  something  worth  while  in  the 
way  of  an  oration  before  our  Societies  from  Prof.  Taylor  Lewis  of  your 
University.  We  received  a  letter  from  your  friend  J.  G.  Whittier  declining 
the  invitation  to  deliver  a  poem  on  account  of  his  health.  He  spoke  of  an 
intention-to  visit  Europe  soon.  I  think  the  probability  is  that  Park  Benja 
min  will  be  asked  to  give  us  a  Poem  next  year.  I  hope  he  will  come.  He 
would  do  it  up  in  style  and  could  be  depended  upon.  Immediately  after 
Commencement  you  may  expect  Mann  and  myself  in  New  York.  We  shall 
stay  two  or  three  days  and  we  hope  to  see  you  as  often  as  your  leisure  will 
permit.  Have  you  any  part  of  that  collection  of  American  poetry  under 
your  control  yet?  By  the  way,  who  wrote  that  article  on  American  Poetry  iu 
the  Democratic  Review?  I  thought  it  essentially  heterodox. 

Geo.  Combe  and  Lady  and  Thad.  Stevens  passed  through  here  a  few 
days  since  towards  Boston.  Thad.  is  a  fine  looking  man,  but  Combe  is  a 
Scotchman.  (Vide  Dr.  Johnson  for  the  inference.)  Your  old  and  tried 
friend  A  ...  C  ...  is  about  town  as  usual  with  his  habitual  mahogany  counte 
nance.  He  swears  occasionally  about  you.  We  expelled  him  from  the  Phi 
Sigma  Nu  Society  on  account  of  his  Washington  scrape.  H  .  .  .  A  ...  cor 
roborated  all  your  allegations.  May  I  depend  upon  you  for  an  introduction  t5 
Benjamin  and  some  other  of  your  N".  Y.  worthies?  Bishop  Hopkins  returned 
from  England  with  an  empty  pocket.  He  expected  to  raise  about  150,000  and 
got  some  5,000 1  'Tis  said  that  he  will  be  obliged  to  sell  his  establishment.  Our 
University  lately  had  a  donation  of  some  20,000  from  one  Mr.  Williams  in 
the  eastern  part  of  Vermont.  Harrington  and  all  your  friends  send  their 


I  "  THE  NEW  WORLD.  "  31 

respects.    Can  not  you  send  me  a  few  lines  in  return  by  Mr  Weaver?    I  am 
ever,  Yours  sincerely, 

H.  J.  Raymond. 


Burlington,  Vt.,  Oct.  31, 1839. 
My  dear  Griswold  : — 

I  have  long  had  it  in  mind  to  write  you  an  epistle  :  but  the  lack 
of  anything  special  to  make  a  letter  interesting,  in  conjunction  with  a  lack  of 
time,  has  hitherto  prevented  me  from  putting  this  sufficiently  laudable  reso 
lution  into  practice.  But  a  truce  to  apologies,  both  for  not  having  written 
before  and  for  writing  now.  So  you  are  out  of  '  The  Tattler '  and  are  now 
[pitching]  into  it,  daily,  christening  your  shots,  a  la  militaire,  "  evening 
signals.''  Well !  go  head — marte  virtute,  (  don't  laugh  at  the  aproposness  of 
the  u  ablative  of  manner").  What  the  deuce  should  put  it  into  the  heads  of 
you  and  Benjamin  to  cast  your  own  bantling,  the  youngest  and  at  the  same 
time  the  smartest  of  your  children,  upon  the  parish,  and  actually  to  com 
mence  so  deadly  a  warfare  upon  it,  I  am  at  a  loss  to  imagine.  Mann  has  told 
me  that  'twas  in  consequence  of  a  difference  with  Wilson  [the  publisher]  : 
and  I  presume  you  had  ample  reason  for  cutting  loose.  I  own  that  upon 
first  learning  of  your  change,  I  feared  the  issue  of  it.  I  feared  that  any  new 
paper,  however  well  conducted,  would  hardly  be  able  to  strike  the  public,  so 
exactly  t5  a  T.,  as  the  Brother  Jonathan  had  done :  and  to  step  in  ahead  of  it 
and  to  undertake  to  turn  the  current  of  favor  from  its  deepening  channel 
into  your  own  way,  I  thought  was  an  attempt,  which,  for  any  other  men 
than  you  two,  would  have  been  hopeless.  But  one  might  as  well  try  to  stop 
the  devil  himself,  as  either  of  you,  when  fairly  under  way  :  who  then  shall 
hinder  you  when  united?  Go  ahead !  tell  Mr.  Columbus  that  he  may  go  the 
devil  with  his  New  World ;  and  as  for  Bro.  Jonathan  and  Co.  when  you 
once  get  upon  the  same  ground  as  to  your  country  circulation,  you  may  tell 
them  to  follow  Columbus.  I  honestly  think  '  The  New  World '  the  hand 
somest  and  the  best  paper  of  the  kind  I  ever  saw.  Long  may  it  w6ar  the 
crown !  .  .  . 

What  a  mass  of  the  most  unmitigated  stupidity  the  '  Boston 
Notion '  inm'cts  upon  the  unoffending  community,  weekly !  The  man  who 
superintends  its  deliverance  into  the  world  ought  to  be  hung,  for  producing 
an  abortion.  There's  a  frog  trying  to  'come'  the  ox,  for  you.  Heaven 
grant  it  may  burst  1  I  am  sorry  that  Benjamin  has  left  the  New  Yorker.  If 
he  had  exerted  himself  but  a  little  he  could  have  made  that,  infinitely  the 


32  VERMONT  AFFAIRS. 

best  weekly  in  the  U.  S.  Who  [sic]  will  Greeley  associate  with  him?  I 
hope  (  but  do  not  expect),  that  he  will  get  one  to  fill  B's  place.  The  «  Sen 
tinel  '  here  a  few  weeks  since  undertook  to  use  up  Benjamin  instanter  and 
the  New-Yorker  with  him,  on  account  of  his  critique  of  Irving. — I  gave  it  a 
decent  rap  for  it  in  the  Free  Press,  and  since  that  they  have  let  B.  alone  and 
gone  to  pome! ling  me !  If  the  author  was  not  quite  so  great  an  ass,  I'd  have 
some  fun  with  him:  If  they  say  another  word  about  Ben.  I'll  mount  them. 
I  believe  that  stupendous  nincompoop  Houghton  (  who  used  to  write  for  the 
Vermonter )  is  the  valiant  Philistine ! —  ...  Stansbury  was  rejoiced  to  learn 
of  your  doings  among  the  people  of  Gotham.  He  is  a  capital  fellow ;  full  of 
fun,  and,  latterly,  of  politics.  The  rise  of  Locofocoism  in  Vermont  has 
inspired  him  with  the  most  ardent  hatred  to  everything  that  looks  that  way. 
Van  Ness  is  making  a  fool  of  himself  by  spending  his  time  in  electioneering. 
He  has  been  over  the  whole  state,  and  is  making  desperate  exertions.  What 
can  be  his  object?  You  know  what  a  capital  manager  Harry  Bradley  is.  He 
is 'going  at  it' soon,  and  says  that  "  Slade  for  Gov."  will  sweep  Vermont 
from  one  end  to  the  other  at  the  next  trial.  They  hope  to  prevail  on  him  to 
stand.  I  do  not  know  where  Woodbridge  is :  he  left  college  some  time  since. 
Roberts  still  carries  on  the  Vermonter.  If  we  are  to  be  bored  with  it  for 
ever,  I  shall  almost  regret  that  you  ever  started.  When  'twas  young  it  was 
a  child  not  to  be  l  sneezed  at,'  but  it  has  lost  every  glimmer  of  its  '  original 
brightness '  and  is  now  behind  the  Free  Press  or  even  the  Sentinel.  Do  you 
remember  that  Dictionary  you  used  to  covet  so  much  at  Goodrich's  book 
store?  I  think  I  could  get  it  for  you  at  a  moderate  price,  though  I  cannot  say 
for  how  much.  If  you  want  it,  let  me  know,  and  I'll  negotiate  for  you.  D5 
you  see  much  of  Mann?  He  is  one  of  the  finest  fellows  that  ever  lived: 
when  you  know  him  well  you'll  say  the  same.  Can  you  make  him  write  for 
your  '  Signal'?  So  Jim  Otis  has  at  last  reached  the  acm6  of  his  ambition,  a 
place  at  the  Tattler's  Editorial  table !  Is  it  true  that  he  is  writing  a  life  of 
Gen.  Scott?  If  it  is,  it  seems  to  me  they  might  have  made  a  better  choice. 
Mann  says  that  you  talk  of  starting  a  Monthly:  can  you  make  it  go?  How 
soon  will  Benjamin's  Poems  be  out?  I  long  to  get  a  sight  at  them.  If 
Greeley  will  let  me  I'll  tell  the  public  what  'The  New  Yorker'  thinks  of 
Benjamin.  Who  the  deuce  is  the  Gent,  in  the  C.  Colored  coat?  Benjamin 
himself  isn't  he?  I  have  written  you  a  sheet  of  devilish  nonsense,  but  I 
cannot  afford  to  try  at  another,  so  you  must  be  content  with  this  for  the 
present.  .  .  Yours  truly, 

H.  J.  Raymond. 


THE  '  SOUTHERN   LITERARY  MESSENGER. '  33 

Mr  R :  H :  Stoddard  givs  the  folloing  account  of  the  enter 
prise  t6  which  Mr.  White  devoted  his  life.  He  died  19  Jan. 
1843. 

"There  were  [then]  no  periodicals  that  were  worth  speaking 
of.  Mr.  N.  P.  Willis  had  commenced  the  *  American  Monthly 
Magazine  '  four  or  five  years  before,  but  it  was  now  merged  int6 
the  '  New  York  Mirror '  .  .  .  Mr.  Charles  Fenno  Hoffman  had 
commenced  the  '  Knickerbocker  Magazine '  the  previous 
year  (1833),  and  had  edited  a  few  numbers  of  it  when 
it  passed  int6  the  hands  of  the  Rev.  Timothy  Flint.  .  . 
There  may  have  been  other  ventures  wh6se  names  have 
dropped  out  of  our  literary  history,  but  these,  with  two  or 
three  heavy  quarterlies,  the  'North  American  Review,' the 
'  Christian  Examiner,'  and  so  on,  represented  the  periodical 
literature  of  the  country.  It  was  doubtless  honorable  t6  write 
for  them,  but  it  was  certainly  not  profitable,  for  the  prices 
which  they  paid  (when  they  paid  at  all),  would  hardly  have 
satisfied  the  copyists  of  the  authors'  manuscripts ;  there  was 
more  money  in  the  legal  narratives  of  John  Doe  and  Richard 
Roe  than  in  the  dissertations  of  the  '  North  American  Review,' 
wh6se  honorarium  for  years  was  tw6  dollars  per  printed  page. 
It  was  not  a  propitious  season  for  writers,  as  I  have  said,  and 
it  could  not  be  considered  a  very  promising  one  for  publishers. 
So  it  seems  t6  us  now,  but  so  it  did  not  seem  t6  Mr.  Thomas 
W.  White,  a  printer  of  Richmond,  wh6  projected  a  new  maga 
zine — a  magazine  which  should  represent  the  literature  of  the 
South,  which  so  far  had  escaped  recognition  in  the  magazines 
of  the  East.  He  was  not  encouraged  by  his  friends,  we  are 
told,  but  being  a  determined  man,  he  refused  t6  be  discouraged, 
and  set  resolutely  t6  work  t6  obtain  the  endorsement  of  some 


84  THE  '  SOUTHERN  LITERARY   MESSENGER. ' 

of  the  leading  authors  of  America.  .  .  It  is  instructive  t6  turn 
from  the  American  magazines  of  t6day,  popular  or  otherwise, 
t6  the  first  number  of  the  '  Southern  Literary  Messenger,'  which 
b£ars  the  date  of  August,  1834,  and  the  imprint  of  T.  W. 
White,  Printer  and  Proprietor.  It  consisted  of  32  double- 
column  octavo  pages,  and  its  subscription  price  was  $5.  I  am 
not  prepared  t6  say  that  it  was  worse  than  the  average  periodi 
cal  literature  of  the  time,  but  it  was  pretty  bad,  though  it  con 
tained  a  piece  of  verse  by  Mrs.  Lydia  H.  Sigourney — ''Colum 
bus  at  the  University  of  Salamanca" — and  Mr.  Richard  Henry 
Wilde's  best  known  lyric,  "  My  life  is  like  the  summer  rose," 
the  authorship  of  which  was  attributed  to,  though  not  fixed 
upon  him.  It  contained,  also,  a  number  of  dull  book-notices, 
the  perfunctory  work  of  some  unintelligent  hack-writer.  Two 
months  passed  before  the  second  number  appeared,  and  it 
could  hardly  be  said  t6  be  superior  to  its  predecessor.  Mrs. 
Sigourney  contributed  another  poem,  "Death  among  the  Trees," 
and  Mr.  William  Wirt  a  "  Letter  to  a  Law  Student."  Unintel 
ligent  hack  furnished  a  dull  notice  of  Bulwer's  "  Pilgrims  of 
the  Rhine,"  and  padded  it  out  with  an  extract  seven  or  eight 
pages  in  length.  The  third  number,  which  was  extended  t6  64 
pages,  was  instructive,  if  not  entertaining.  The  piece  de 
resistance  was  the  first  of  a  series  of  papers  on  the  '  Present 
Condition  of  Tripoli; 'the  side-dishes  were  a  '  Letter  from  a 
Virginian  in  New  England,'  [the  first  of  a  series  afterwards 
printed  by  J.  R.  Lowell  in  the  Atlantic  in  ignorance  that  they 
had  been  publishd]  and  an  article  on  Mr.  N.  P.  Willis  (copied 
from  the  '  Norfolk  Beacon '  )  ;  the  dessert  was  a  sonnet  on 
Byron,  attributed  (and  justly)  t6  Mr.  Wilde.  .  .  By  whate\7er 
standard  it  was  measured,  it  was  a  failure,  as  anyone  but  Mr. 


r:  w  .  WHITE.  35 

White  would  have  seen,  and  as  he  probably  saw,  though  he 
determined  t6  continue  it.  He  had  not  been  sustained  by  the 
leading  writers  of  America,  further  than  by  their  good  wishes, 
for  not  one  of  them  had  contributed  a  line  t6  the  luckless  peri 
odical.  Among  those  wh6  had  promised  t6  d6  so,  was  Mr. 
Kennedy,  who,  early  in  the  winter  of  1835,  recommended  Poe 
t6  him  as  a  contributor." 

Richmond,  Va.,  Nov.  23,  1839. 
My  dear  Sir : 

Mr.  Greeley  has  recommended  that  I  take  from  you  an  article  .  .  . 
for  my  January  Messenger.  Much  as  I  should  like  to  have  such  a  contribu 
tion  from  your  pen,  I  shall  be  obliged  to  forego  the  pleasure,  unless  you 
choose  to  present  the  MS.  to  me.  To  confess  the  truth.  I  am  confoundedly 
hard  run— and,  what  is  still  worse,  I  am  confoundedly  in  debt.  This  is  the 
plain,  unvarnished  truth.  Yours,  Th.  W.  White. 


Richmond,  Va.,  Dec.  23, 1839. 
My  dear  Friend : 

I  am  in  great  trouble  today,— greater  than  I  could  give  you  any 
idea  of,  even  if  I  were  disposed  to  lay  my  sorrows  and  my  grievances  at  your 
feet.  But  I  will  go  ahead  at  all  hazards.  God  alone  shall  break  me  down. 
Man  cannot  do  it. 

It  grieves  me  to  hear  you  say  that  you  cannot  make  a  living  in  New- 
York,  and  that  you  must  go  "somewhere  where  bread  is  to  be  earned."  I 
wish  I  was  so  situated  that  I  could  offer  you  a  good  living.  But  my  hands 
are  tied,  as  it  were,  for  the  present.  The  friends  that  I  would  serve,  and 
have  around  me,  I  cannot.  I  know  your  capacity— I  know  that  you  have 
fine  talents— and  I  know  that  you  are  a  hard-working,  brave  man.  And,  if 
it  were  possible,  I  would  have  you  here  tomorrow. 

Your  article  on  the  "Rights  of  Authors"  is  a  strong  piece  of  composi 
tion.  No  man  Jiving  can  controvert  your  arguments.  It  is  thought,  from 
beginning  to  end. 

I  wish  you,  my  dear  fellow,  to  set  to  work  about  another  piece  for  me. 
Choose  any  subject  you  please— and  get  it  to  me  as  soon  as  possible. 

...  I  am  unable  to  write.  My  head  aches  to  desperation,  and  my  heart 
is  filled  almost  to  overflowing  with  sorrows.  Your  Friend, 

T.  W.  White. 


36  J:  KEESE  ON  GRISWOLD. 

A  glimps  of  Griswold  at  this  date  is  given  in  the  Recollec 
tions  of  J  :  Keese  publishd  in  his  son's  biography  : — 

"...  The  next  figure  coming  before  the  mind's  eye  from  the 
grouping  of  one  of  these  notable  evenings,  belongs  t6  a  man 
wh6  during  many  years  created  and  endured  as  much  excite 
ment  connected  with  the  world  of  literature  as  any  other  wh6 
could  be  named.  Rufus  Wilmot  Griswold,  ex-minister  of  the 
gospel,  editor  and  literary  worker  in  general,  t6  wh6m  the 
country  really  owed  much,  for  a  considerable  period,  and  wh6 
was  treated  by  that  country  more  than  a  trifle  irregularly  before 
his  death,  as  he  has  been,  since  that  event,  with  a  blending  of 
neglect  and  captiousness.  Mr.  Griswold,  at  the  time  under 
notice,  was  about  twenty-five  years  old,  and  had  produced  as 
yet  very  little  work  in  the  world  of  letters.  .  .  He  was  a  man  of 
rather  small  figure,  a  very  intelligent  face,  with  the  eyes  deep- 
set,  good  forehead  showing  an  early  inclination  t6  the  loss  of 
front  hair,  sharp  and  trenchant  nose,  short,  full  beard  and 
moustache,  and  a  habit  of  holding  down  the  head  a  trifle  and 
looking  keenly  out  from  beneath  the  overhanging  brows,  not  a 
little  impressive  when  he  was  very  much  in  earnest.  Never 
profound,  Mr.  Griswold  had  a  large  fund  of  current  intelli 
gence,  and  was  an  exceptionally  interesting  talker,  as  possibly 
he  had  been  a  speaker  of  corresponding  caliber.  He  was  at 
that  time  connected  with  Horace  Greeley's  'New  Yorker'.  .  . 
It  was  a  little -later  that  he  became  editor  of  '  Graham's  Maga 
zine,'  d6ing  more  than  any  American  had  previously  done  t6 
draw  around  a  single  publication  the  labor  of  the  best  thinkers 
of  the  country,  and  ably  seconded,  in  d6ing  so,  by  the  far-seeing 
liberality  of  the  publisher,  Mr.  George  R.  Graham,  really  the 
father  of  American  magazines  of  the  first  class  .  .  .  From  1842 


GKISWOLI)  EDITOR  OF  'THE  NEW-YORKKR. '  37 

till  the  time  of  his  death,  he  was  laboriously  engaged  in  a 
series  of  compilations  requiring  that  industry  and  that  persist 
ence  of  which  he  had  so  much,  and  demanding  little  of  that 
absolute  talent  and  that  ripe  scholarship,  in  both  of  which  he 
was  deficient.  That  Rufus  Wilmot  Griswold  .  .  .  did  gretit  and 
meritorious  services  t6  our  growing  literature,  and  assisted  in 
fostering  many  writers,  wh6,  without  his  encouragement, 
would  hopelessly  have  laid  down  the  pen,  there  is  no  question 
whatever ;  and  it  is  something  of  a  privilege,  now  that  he  has 
already  been  dead  for  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century,  t6  call 
back,  however  dimly,  his  presence,  and  bear  even  this  slight 
testimony  to  his  labors." 

Albany,  Feb.  17, 1840. 
Rufus  W.  Griswold,  Esq. 

I  understand  by  the  last  Tattler  that  you  have  abandoned  Boston 
and  returned  to  New  York — very  good.  Very  well:  I  write  to  say  that  I 
shall  probably  want  you  the  coming  season,  if  your  services  are  purchasable, 
as  I  believe  they  generally  are.  I  do  not  wish  you  to  forego  any  good  offer 
you  may  have  or  receive;  but  I  shall  probably  be  glad  to  hire  your  services 
from  the  first  of  May  ( probably  sooner  )  to  the  first  of  December  next  if  they 
can  be  hud  on  reasonable  terms.  My  plans  may  fail ;  but  I  should  like  t5 
know  how  you  stand  at  present.  Address  me  a  line  on  the  receipt  of  this, 
defining  your  position.  Yours, 

H.  Greeley. 

Please  state  what  you  will  ask  me  per  week  for  the  time  above  men 
tioned.  Don't  get  in  any  more  scrapes  till  I  come  down,  which  will  be  the 
first  Saturday  after  the  River  opens.  Yours, 

H.  G. 

New  York,  Apr.  26  [  1840.  ] 
My  dear  Fields, 

I  now  "  do  "  the  New  Yorker,  under  a  tw6  year's  engagement, 
in  place  of  Hoffman.  Greeley  comes  out  next  week  with  a  "Log  Cabin" 
paper,  to  which  he  intends  to  devote  his  entire  attention,  until  the  autumn 
election  at  least.  .  .  I  am  going  on  with  my  plans  relative  t5  "  American 
Poetry"  heretofore  expressed. 


T:   W.   WHITE. 

Albany,  [June?],  1840. 


R.  W.  Griswold : 


I  wanted  to  see  you  Friday  night  bad :  why  did  you  [  word 
omitted]  Swartwout?    You  must  have  known  it  would  embarrass  me. 

Please  take  care  and  save  the  articles  I  left  out  on  my  table ;  among 
others,  one  containing  an  abstract  of  a  speech  of  Hon.  Elisha  Whittlesey 
which  I  want  to  go  inside  in  this  week's  Log  ( bourgeois ).  Also  one  on  Gen, 
Harrison's  poverty  and  its  causes,  which  save  carefully,  as  I  want  to  make 
an  Editorial  out  of  it.  Some  others  ditto.  I  shall  try  to  be  down  on  Wed 
nesday  morning.  .  .  The  last  Yorker  was  a  very  fair  number,  bating  typo 
graphical  errors,  such  as  '  Dugal '  for  '  Dugald '  Stuart,  which  is  awful,  as 
insinuating  ignorance  against  us.  I  saw  '  From  whence,'  in  your  own  verser 
too.  Don't  you  know  that  is  shocking, — positively  shocking !  .  .  .  Yours, 

H.  Greeley. 


Richmond,  Va.,  June  9, 1840. 
My  dear  Sir : 

...  It  pleases  me  much  to  learn  that  you  think  well  of  my  pet. 
I  know  not  what  to  say  about  receiving  your  labors.  To  take  them  without 
some  remuneration,  I  will  not.  And,  on  the  other  hand,  I  am  really  so 
heavily  in  debt,  that  I  dare  not  offer  you  such  encouragement  as  I  should  like 
to  do,  if  I  were  not  so  much  under  the  [illegible].  But,  throwing  all  this 
aside,  if  you  choose  to  give  me  your  labors  for  $1.50  per  page,  Bourgeois 
type,— and  $2.00  for  the  Minion  page,  why,  in  that  case,  I  say  "go  ahead !" 
And  even  at  these  rates,  my  dear  friend  [you]  will  have  to  be  most  patient 
with  me.  Indeed  you  will  be  obliged  to  suffer  me  to  take  my  own  time  to 
pay  you  this  pittance.  But  pay  you,  eventually,  I  assuredly  will. 

I  am  glad  to  learn  that  you  are  connected  with  Mr.  Greeley— you  could 
not  have  made  a  better  selection.  He  is  exactly  a  man  after  my  own  heart- 
noble,  generous  and  brave.  I  know  not  his  superior  anywhere.  And  as  for 
his  talents,  they  are  of  the  highest  and  most  useful  kind.  .  . 

I  am  sick  of  hard  work— sick  of  this  dog's  life;— and  yet  strange  to  say, 
I  believe  I  should  go  to  the  dogs  if  I  did  not  lead  this  more  than  slavish  life. 
Adieu!  my  dear  fellow.  Yours, 

Th.  W.  White. 


WAR    IN  TEXAS.  39 

Linnville,  Laba  Bay  [Texas  ] ,  July  30. 1840. 
Dear  Brother, 

.  .  .  The  Mexican  federalists  are  still  encamped  on  the  Rio 
Grande.  They  appear  to  me  more  like  a  band  of  marauders  than  an  army 
fighting  for  the  liberty  of  their  country.  Many  who  had  great  confidence  iu 
their  success  begin  to  lose  that  confidence,  and  many  who  would  have  joined 
their  standard  two  months  since  now  look  upon  them  as  unworthy  the  con 
fidence  of  any  one.  .  .  Ever  your  friend  and  Brother, 

S.  P.  Griswold. 


Passo  de  Cabello,  Aug.  15,  1840. 
My  dear  Brother : 

Ere  this  reaches  you  I  presume  you  will  have  heard  of  the 
destruction  of  Linnville  on  Labaca  Bay,  and  as  I  have  dated  my  letters  to  you 
from  that  place  I  hasten  to  inform  you  of  my  safety  and  the  facts  so  far  as 
they  have  come  to  my  knowledge  of  the  affair. 

On  the  morning  of  the  8th  inst.  a  party  of  Indians  were  discovered 
about  2  or  2%  miles  from  the  town  forming  in  order  of  attack ;  our  first 
impression  was  that  it  was  a  part  of  the  Mexican  Federal  Army,  coming  t5 
that  place  for  supplies,  but  on  taking  a  view  of  them  through  a  glass  and 
observing  their  numbers,  a  man  was  despatched  to  meet  them  and  ascertain 
whether  they  were  friends  or  foes,  he  had  advanced  about  %  mile  when  the 
advanced  guard  filed  off  and  in  4  minutes  we  were  completely  surrounded 
by  land,  and  all  chance  of  escape  save  by  water  cut  off.  All  made  their 
escape  but  two  whites  and  three  negroes  by  taking  the  Boats.  Three  whites 
were  killed, — Major  Watts,  the  collector  of  the  Port  of  Labaca,  a  Mr. 
Owen  [?]  and  a  man  whose  name  is  not  recollected.  And  Madam  Watts 
taken  prisoner.  Three  Blacks  are  missing.  Soon  after  the  Indians  had  pos 
session  of  the  town  they  commenced  burning  the  town,  one  building  at  a 
time.  We  lay  in  sight  until  the  last  building  was  burned,  which  was  done 
about  9  P.  M. — from  Linnville  they  made  their  way  again  for  the  mountains 
by  way  of  Victoria  which  they  attacked  twice,  and  were  both  times  repulsed — 
from  that  place  they  were  closely  pursued  by  the  Texians  and  were  once 
whipped  with  considerable  loss.  From  the  last  accounts  from  the  army  in 
pursuit,  the  Texians  were  700  strong  in  view  with  parties  on  both  flanks  and 
the  Major  General  Felix  Huston  with  about  200  Regulars  at  a  narrow  pass  t5 
the  mountains  to  which  they  were  making.  From  the  last  Express  their 


40  THE  POETS  OF  1840. 

destruction  is  almost  inevitable.  Should  they  be  cut.  off,  western  towns  will 
be  safe  from  any  further  invasion.  The  number  that  took  Linnville  was  riot 
less  than  8  nor  more  than  12  hundred  men — they  were  led  by  Mexicans  or 
Indians.  .  .  All  that  was  saved  was  what  we  had  on  our  backs.  My  loss  was 
not  less  than  four  and  I  fear  not  less  than  eight  thousand  dollars,  but  it  was 
made  in  Texas.  I  am  now  destitute,  all  I  have  is  my  land  and  credit,  one 
thing  1  have  to  console,  that  is,  I  am  out  of  debt.  Since  the  fight  I  have  had 
no  regular  sleep.  I  am  nearly  used  up.  I  leave  here  in  a  few  hours  for  the 
Lavaca  and  Victoria.  .  .  God  be  with  you  and  yours, 

S.  Parsons  Griswold. 


"I  have  already,"  wrote  Bayard  Taylor  in  1871,  "seen  one 
generation  [  of  poets  ]  forgotten,  and  I  fancy  I  now  see  the 
second  slipping  the  cables  of  their  craft,  and  making  ready  t6 
drop  down  stream  with  the  ebb  tide.  I  remember,  for  instance, 
that  in  1840  there  were  many  well-known  and  tolerably  popular 
names  which  are  never  heard  now.  Byron  and  Mrs.  Hemans 
then  gave  the  tone  t6  poetry,  and  Scott,  Bulwer  and  Cooper  t6 
fiction.  Willis  was  by  all  odds  the  most  popular  American 
author ;  Longfellow  was  not  known  by  the  multitude,  Emerson 
was  only  '  that  Transcendentalist,'  and  Whittier  *  that  Aboli 
tionist.'  We  young  men  used  t6  talk  of  Rufus  Dawes,  and 
Charles  Fenno  Hoffman,  and  Grenville  Mellen,  and  Brainard 
and  Sands.  Why  we  even  had  a  hope  that  something  wonder 
ful  would  come  out  of  Chivers  !  .  .  .  Dr.  Thomas  Holley  Chivers, 
of  Georgia,  author  of  '  Virginalia,'  '  The  Lost  Pleiad,'  '  Facets 
of  Diamond  '  and  *  Eonchs  of  Ruby/  also  of  '  Nacoochee,  the 
Beautiful  Star,'  and  there  was  still  another  volume,  six  in  all  !* 
The  British  Museum  has  the  only  complete  set  of  his  works.  .  . 
I  remember  a  stanza  of  his  *  Rosalie  Lee' : — 

*  It  will  be  seen  from  the  folloing  list  that  Chivers'  works  number  more 
than  six  volumes.    Numbers  2,  8  and  9  ar  in  the  library  of  Harvard  College, 


T:   HOLLEY   CHIVER8.  41 

Many  mellow  Cydonian  suckets, 

Sweet  apples,  anthosmial,  divine, 
From  the  ruby-rimmed  beryline  buckets 

Star-gemmed,  lily-shaped,  hyaline; 
Like  the  sweet  golden  goblet  found  growing 

On  the  wild  emerald  cucumber-tree, 
Rich,  brilliant,  like  chrysoprase  glowing, 

Was  my  beautiful  Rosalie  Lee.' 

The  refrain  of  a  poem  called  '  The  Poet's  Vacation '  was  : — 
In  the  music  of  the  morns, 
Blown  through  the  Conchimarian  horns, 
Down  the  dark  vistas  of  the  reboantie  Norns, 
To  the  Genius  of  Eternity 
Crying  *  Come  to  me  I  Come  to  me !'  " 

Dr.  Chivers,  according  t6  a  statement  made  t6  me  by  one  of 
his  dauters,  was  born  at  Washington,  Georgia,  in  1807,  and 
died  at  Decatur,  Georgia,  in  1858.  Having  inherited  wealth, 
however,  he  practicd  but  little.  "While  in  Springfield,  Mass., 

having  belongd  to  J.  R.  Lowell.    Numbers  1  and  3  ar  taken  from  the  catalog 

of  the  Harris  collection. 

( 1 ).    Conrad  and  Eudora,  or  the  Death  of  Alonzo,  Phil'a,  1834,  144  pp. 

( 2  ).  Nacoochee  [etc.  ]  with  other  poems,  by  T.  H.  Chivers,  M.  D.  .  .  New 
York :  W.  E.  Dean,  Printer,  2  Ann  St.,  1837;  18°,  143  pp. 

( 3 ) .    The  Lost  Pleiad,  N.-Y.,  1845. 

( 4 ).    Facets  of  Diamond. 

(5  ).    Eonchs  of  Ruby,  N.-Y.,  Shepard  &  Spalding,  1851,  168  pp. 

(6).  Virginalia,  or  Songs  of  my  Summer  Nights.  Phil'a,  Lippincott, 
Grambo  &  Co.,  1853. 

(  7 ).  Atlanta,  or  the  True  Blessed  Island  of  Poesy  :  a  Paul  [  Prose? ]  Epic 
in  three  Lustra.  Macon,  1855,  8°. 

( 8  ).  Memoralia,  or  Phials  of  Amber  full  of  the  Tears  of  Love.  A  Gift  for 
the  Beautiful.  By  T.  H.  Chivers,  M.  D.  .  .  Philadelphia:  Lippin 
cott,  Grambo  &  Co.,  1853,  18°,  168  pp.  This  consists  of  *  Eonchs  of 
Ruby  '  preceded  by  a  single  12  page  poem.  The  copyright  date  is 
1851,  so  that  it  is  probably  the  same  as  No.  5. 

The  Sons  of  Usna,  a  Tragi-Apotheosis,  in  Five   Acts.     By   T.  H. 
Chivers,  M.  D.  .  .  Philadelphia,  C.  Sherman  &  Son,  Printers,  1858; 
8°,  92  two-column  pages. 
Heroes  of  Freedom. 


42  T:    HOLLEY   CHIVERS. 

he  fell  in  love  with  a  Yankee  girl  sixteen  years  old.  They 
traveled  from  one  place  to  another,  New  York,  Boston,  New 
Haven,  etc."  This  second  marriage  probably  took  place  about 
1850.  In  1853-54  Chivers  dwelt  in  or  near  Boston  and  was  a 
frequent  contributor  t6  '  The  Waverley  Magazine '  and  '  The 
Literary  Museum.'  It  is  singular  that  not  only  Richardson's 
and  the  minor  histories  of  American  literature  ignore  Chivers, 
but  that  even  L..  Manly's  book,  which  is  devoted  exclusivly  t6 
Southern  authors,  does  the  same. 

I  insert  a  letter  from  Chivers  t6  Poe,  since  it  illustrates  the 
spirit  of  the  time,  and  shos  that  the  influence  of  transcendent 
alism  was  not  limited  t6  New-England  and  "  The  Tribune." 
Chivers'  style  is  here  tame  and  commonplace,  having  little  of 
the  verbal  effulgence  which  later  distinguishd  it,  when,  even  in 
prose,  it  unconsciously  surpassd  the  efforts  of  those  most  skil 
ful  in  burlesque.  Aside  from  his  poetical  pretensions,  Chivers 
seems  t6  hav  been  a  person  worthy  of  great  respect.  His  verses 
appeared  in  some  of  the  best  periodicals  of  the  day,  and  if  we 
may  trust  the  extracts  quoted  by  the  publishers  of  his  '  Eonchs 
of  Ruby  '  he  was  not  entirely  without  appreciation  on  the  part 
of  the  critics.  Here  is  the  advertisment  as  it  appeard  in  '  The 
Literary  World  ' : — 

Eonchs  of  Ruby. 

A  Gift  of  Love. 

By  T.  H.  Chivers,  M.  D. 


Opinions  of  the  Press. 

"  We  might  quote  passages  of  even  beauty  throughout  the 
book — passages  replete  with  the  loveliest  developments  of  the 
divine  poetic  idea  in  the  man's  soul.  From  his  harp  proceed 


T:   HOLLEY   CHIVERS.  43 

master  strains,  which  seem  struck  out  often  in  a  sort  of 
Pythonic  delirium." — Message  Bird. 

"  '  The  Eonchs  of  Ruby '  is  a  treasure  of  classic  and  sublime 
poetry — a  rara  avis  of  a  rich  and  ardent  imagination.  The 
author's  ideas  partake  more  of  the  celestial  than  of  the  terres 
trial  ;  and  many  of  the  best  productions  of  this  book  are 
dedicated  t6  beings  wh6  were  once  dear  t6  him  in  life,  but  wh6 
were  called  away  in  the  flower  of  their  age  t6  enjoy  a  world 
more  glorious  and  perfect  than  this  miserable  earth.  These 
lamentations  of  an  afflicted  parent,  so  charmingly  and. truth 
fully  expressed,  may  truly  be  called  superior  t6  anything  of 
the  kind  ever  written  by  any  American  or  English  poet." — From 
L'Eco  d'  Italia. 

The  New  York  Quarterly,  however,  took  a  somewhat  differ 
ent  tone : — 

"The  quaint  conceits  of  these  title  pages  [Nos.  6  and  7] 
are  a  warning  of  the  affectation  and  absurdity  which  nestle 
within  the  covers  of  the  present  astounding  volumes.  Such  a 
farrago  of  pedantry,  piety,  blasphemy,  sensuality,  and  delirious 
fancies  has  seldom  before  gained  the  imprint  of  a  respectable 
publisher.  If  the  reader  can  imagine  the  fusion  of  the  Hebrew 
Prophets,  Solomon's  Song,  Jacob  Bohme,  Edgar  A.  Poe, 
Anacreon,  Catullus,  Coleridge,  and  Isaac  Watts  int6  one  seeth 
ing,  simmering  caldron  of  abominations,  he  may  form  some 
idea  of  these  fantastic  monstrosities.  The  prose  run  mad  in 
the  prefaces  prepares  for  the  demoniac-celestial-bestial 
character  of  the  poety." 

The  editor  of  *  The  Knickerbocker '  paid  his  respects  to  the 
work  as  folios  : — 

"  We  have  read    a    little  book  of   poems  by   a    Mr.    Chivers 


44  T:    HOLLEY   CHIVEK8. 

( what  a  crisp,  sparkling  name !  )  which  is  a  casket  over 
brimming  with  the  most  incomparable  gems  that  ever  sparkled 
in  Heaven's  light.  The  author  remarks  in  his  preface,  which 
is  itself  a  prosaic  bewilderment  of  all  that  is  most  precious  in 
the  verbal  domain  :  'As  the  diamond  is  the  crystalline  Revela- 
tor  of  the  acromatic  white  light  of  Heaven,  so  is  a  perfect  poem 
the  crystalline  revelation  of  the  Divine  Idea.  There  is  just  the 
difference  between  a  pure  poem  and  one  that  is  not,  that  there 
is  between  the  spiritual  concretion  of  a  diamond  and  the  mere 
glaciation  of  water  int6  ice.  For  as  the  irradiancy  of  a  dia 
mond  depends  upon  its  diaphanous  translucency,  so  does  the 
beauty  of  a  poem  upon  its  rythmical  crystallization  of  the 
Divine  Idea.'  We  concur  with  the  author  in  these  views, 
although  we  never  had  the  power  t6  express  them.  A  single 
verse  from  Mr.  Chivers  will  show  that  he  does  not  lay  down 
principles  by  which  he  is  not  himself  guided  : — 
On  the  beryl-rimmed  rebecs  of  Ruby 

Brought  fresh  from  the  hyaline  streams, 
She  played  on  the  banks  of  the  Yuba 

Such  songs  as  she  heard  in  her  dreams. 
Like  the  heavens  when  the  stars  from  their  eyries 

Look  down  through  the  ebon  night  air. 
Where  the  groves  by  the  Ouphantic  Fairies 

Lit  up  for  my  Lily  Ad  air, 

For  my  child-like  Lily  Adair, 

For  my  heaven-born  Lily  Adair, 

For  my  beautiful,  dutiful  Lily  Adair. 

There  is  immortality  in  these  verses,  unless  immortality  is  '  a 
figment.' " 

No.  47,  Canal  Street,  N.  Y.,  Aug.  27th,  1840. 
Dear  Sir,— 

I  received  your  letter  this  evening,  containing  a  Prospectus  of 
the  "Penn  Magazine,"  which  you  intend  publishing  in  the  City  of  Philadel- 


T:   HOLLEY  CHIVERS.  46 

phia.  My  absence  from  the  City,  among  the  emerald  highlands  of  the 
beautiful  Hudson,  prevented  my  answering  it  sooner  than  to-day.  In  answer 
to  your  solicitation  for  my  support  for  the  forthcoming  Journal,  I  must  say 
that  I  am  much  pleased  with  your  "Prospectus"— the  plan  which  you  have  in 
view — and  hope  sincerely  that  you  may  realize  all  your  anticipations.  As  it 
regards  myself,  I  will  support  you  as  long  as  you  may  continue  the  Editor  of 
the  above-named  work.  In  the  Paradise  of  Literature,  I  do  not  know  one 
better  calculated  than  yourself  to  prune  the  young  scions  of  their  exuberant 
thoughts.  In  some  instances,  let  me  remark,  you  seemed  to  me  to  lay  aside 
the  pruning-knife  for  the  tomahawk,  and  not  only  to  lop  oft'  the  redundant 
limbs,  but  absolutely  to  eradicate  the  entire  tree.  In  such  cases  there  is  no 
hope  of  its  ever  afterwards  bearing  any  fruit.  In  surgical  operations  we 
always  use  a  sharp  knife,  and  wish  to  be  as  expeditious  as  possible ;  but  we 
never  go  so  far  as  t5  cut  away  so  much  of  a  part  as  to  endanger  the  vitality 
of  the  whole.  If  we  find,  as  in  cases  of  gangrene,  that  the  vital  part  is  so 
affected  that  an  operation  would  be  unsafe,  we  then  choose  to  let  the  patient 
die  a  natural  death,  rather  than  hasten  it  by  our  surgical  art.  I  have  seen  a 
little  sapling  transplanted  before  now,  which  had  every  appearance  of  dying 
until  it  had  undergone  a  gentle  pruning  and  watering,  when,  to  the  astonish 
ment  of  the  Gardener,  it  towered  above  all  the  rest  in  the  grove,  and 
remained  a  living  monument  of  his  skill  and  kind  attention.  The  same  thing 
is  true  in  regard  to  the  literary  world.  Bad  treatment  to  the  human  economy 
will  make  a  chronic  disease  sooner  than  a  functional  one,  [and]  by  its  own 
process,  will  terminate  in  organic  derangement. 

I  consider  the  publication  of  such  a  work  as  you  have  suggested 
infinitely  above  any  other  undertaking.  There  can  be  no  equivalent  given  to 
a  man  for  the  payment  of  divine  thought.  It  is  as  far  above  every  other 
consideration  as  the  soul  is  more  immortal.  He  who  has  never  wandered 
amid  the  labyrinthine  vistas  of  the  flower-gemed  solitudes  of  thought  knows 
nothing  of  the  capabilities  of  the  soul  in  its  aspirations  after  the  Beautiful  in 
Natural  Truth,  which  it,  thereby,  perceives  will  be  fully  manifested  to  it,  in 
all  its  glory,  in  the  enjoyment  of  the  Hereafter.  He  knows  nothing  of  that 
delightful  Eden  which  remains  immortal  in  the  soul,  whose  flowers  are  the 
amaranths  of  celestial  thought.  The  fruit  of  the  ignorant  seems  sweet  to  the 
eye,  but  "  turns  to  ashes  on  the  lips."  The  garden  of  literature,  to  the  wise, 
is  a  "  Paradise  Regained"  wherein  his  thoughts,  like  the  swan  of  Socrates, 
can  soar  up  to  the  celestial  regions,  and  become  the  soul's  heralds  of  the 
divine  T5-come.  For,  as  thought  is  the  offspring  of  the  spiritual,  which  is 


46  TRANSCENDENTALISM. 

but  the  unfolding  of  the  soul  to  itself, — as  the  disporting  of  the  bud  i8  but 
the  display  of  its  many  folds,  at  the  same  time  that  it  gives  out  its  fragrance 
— whereby  it  becomes  cognizant  of  the  external  world — so,  the  more  it  knows 
of  the  spiritual,  the  more  it  assimilates  itself  to  the  Author  of  its  Spirituality. 

What  do  you  think  of  the  "  Dial "  ?  The  Boston  papers  have  attempted 
to  criticise  it ;  but  they  have  failed  entirely.  As  we  all  bear  definite  relations 
to  the  external  world,  so  language  is  the  manifestation  of  these  relations. 
But  if  we  never  made  use  of  language  in  any  other  sense,  we  should  never 
soar  up  from  the  palpable  and  the  material,  to  the  impalpable,  spiritual,  and 
immaterial — which,  I  think,  is  one  of  the  chief  provinces  of  human  thought. 
This,  the  materialist  would  call  "  Transcendentalism."  Well,  let  him  call  it 
so — he  has  no  better  name  for  it.  And  what  is  it,  after  all?  It  is  taking  the 
swan  of  thought,  which  has  floated  on  the  crystalline  waters  of  the  familiar 
in  this  world,  and  giving  it  wings,  whereby  it  may  ascend  into  the  regions  of 
the  unfamiliar,  and  there,  in  that  divine  altitude  become  the  recipient  of  that 
lore  which  is  the  harmony  of  the  Angels.  All  our  knowledge  comes  from 
the  relations  which  subsist  between  us  and  the  external  world.  And  what 
is  Eevelation  but  Transcendentalism?  It  is  the  effect  of  inspiration.  What 
then  is  inspiration,  if  it  is  not  a  power  given  to  the  soul  to  recognize  the 
beautiful  of  a  truth  which  is  transcendent  in  its  nature,  when  compared 
with  other  truths?  We  may  convey  the  idea  of  a  heavenly  truth  by  an 
earthly  one— that  is,  we  may  make  an  earthly  truth  the  representative  of  a 
truth  beyond  expression.  This  shows  the  power  of  language.  This  shows 
that  language  has  a  higher  office  than  to  manifest  the  relations  which  subsist 
between  us  and  the  external  world — although  all  our  knowledge  comet" 
therefrom.  We  may  express  the  existence  of  a  truth  which  is  beyond 
expression.  We  do  this  whenever  we  attempt  to  explain  the  attributes  of 
God.  You  see  with  what  presumption  vultures  will  aspire  to  the  dignity  of 
angels.  I  do  not  mean  by  this  that  everything  which  the  "Dial"  asserts  is 
true.  Far  from  it.  But  I  do  mean  that  its  sapient  Critics  know  nothing  of 
the  power  of  language  in  the  reflection  of  ideas,  which  are  the  twilight 
presence  of  God  living  in  the  soul.  They  know  nothing  of  anything  but 
what  amounts  to  nothing.  All  that  is  invisible  is  spiritual,  and  all  that  is 
spiritual  is  lasting;  and  all  that  is  lasting  is  alone  valuable. 

You  must  excuse  this  digression,  for  I  had  no  idea  of  wandering  so 
far  iut5  the  meanderings  of  metaphysic  thought,  when  I  commenced.  In 
conclusion,  therefore,  let  me  assure  you  that  I  will  do  everything  in  my 
power  to  benefit  you  in  the  progression  of  your  forthcoming  work— hoping, 


T:  w.  WHITE.  47 

at  the  same  time,  that  your  life  may  be  long  and  prosperous,  and  that  you 
may  enjoy  in  this  world  all  the  pleasures  that  wealth  can  purchase  and  fancy 
can  invent.  Yours  very  truly, 

Thos.  H.  Chivers. 


[  The  B :  Franklin  Butler  here  mentioned  was  attorney-general  under 
Jackson  and  Van  Buren.    The  letter  was  addressd  to  Greeley.  ] 

Richmond,  Va.,  Oct.  30, 1840. 
My  Dear  Friend : 

Be  so  good  as  to  have  the  enclosed  bill  sent  to  B.  F.  Butler,  Esq. 
for  collection.  I  presume  it  will  be  paid  at  sight,  he  is  not  drove  as  we  poor 
devils  of  printers  are.  Oh  no,  he  has  indeed  luxuriated  on  the  loaves  and 
fishes.  Seeing  his  claim  is  fixed  I  presume  he  will  discontinue. 

I  regret  to  tell  you,— and  I  assure  you  I  utter  the  truth— I  regret  to  tell 
you  that  I  am  not  near  so  well  off,  in  pecuniary  matters,  as  I  was  when  we 
last  shook  hands.  It  is  useless  to  speculate  on  the  causes — it  is  enough  for 
me  to  know  that  the  fact  is  so.  .  . 

Your  Mr.  Griswold  is  certainly .  a  very  excellent  writer,  as  he  is  a 
gentlemanly  man.  .  .  Your  friend, 

T.  W.  White. 


Richmond,  Va.,  Oct.  30, 1840. 
My  Dear  Friend : 

I  duly  received  your  favor  of  2d  inst.,  and  honestly  assure  you 
that  I  would  have  replied  to  it  long  since,  if  I  could  have  spared  the  time. 
The  truth  is,  my  dear  fellow,  I  am,  I  fear,  a  bad  manager,  and  possibly  a 
worse  economist.  Instead  of  working  myself  out  of  difficulties,  I  seem  t5 
[  have]  created  a  new  batch  of  them  in  the  past  12  months : — and  just  now  I 
am  particularly  beset,— particularly  annoyed.  Still  I  am  nothing  daunted,— 
and  I  mean  t5  push  my  barque,  frail  and  weak  though  she  be,  ahead,  at  al) 
hazards.  If  I  perish,  I  perish— that's  all.  .  . 


[  Griswold  went  to  Philadelphia  to  become  editor  of  The  Daily  Standard.  ] 

New  York,  Nov.  29, 1840. 
R.  W.  Griswold, 

Man,  what's  your  hurry?    I  got  home  this  morning  expecting  t6 
find  you  here  these  two  days,  or  till  Monday  evening  at  least;  but  behold  1 


48  HORACE  GREELEY. 

you  are  off  these  tw5  days !  Well,  it  will  all  do ;  but  I  would  have  liked  to 
see  you  anyhow.  I  calculated  to  spend  this  afternoon  up  at  your  place,  and 
was  rather  disappointed  in  having  no  pretext  for  so  doing. 

Well,  you  are  off,  and  I  suppose  you  will  stay  till  it  suits  your  conven 
ience  to  return.  But  let  me  hear  from  you  anyhow.  I  talked  with  [  G :  ] 
Roberts  about  you  yesterday  for  some  time.  R.  is  rather  in  a  quandary. 
Purdy  and  young  Haughton  are  going  to  start  an  opposition,  to  be  called 
The  Daily  Mail,  and  Purdy  has  left  Roberts.  R.  talked  with  me  about  you, 
and  concluded  that  you  were  the  right  chap  to  assume  the  principal  tragical 
business  in  his  concern.  I  thought  you  would  have  no  objection  to  an  extra 
string  to  your  bow,  so  I  encouraged  him  in  it.  I  doubt  not  you  are  well 
situated  as  you  are,  yet  I  think  you  may  as  well  write  a  frank,  kindly  letter 
to  Roberts,  stating  that  you  are  now  fast,  but  if  you  happen  to  get  loose  you 
will  be  glad  t5  go  with  him.  That  can  do  no  harm,  anyhow. 

I  wish  you  would  write  me  each  Wednesday  evening  a  junk  of 
'  Literary  Intelligence '  .  .  .  But  you  have  a  good  place  where  you  are — don't 
jeopard  it  to  serve  anybody.  Yours, 

H.  Greeley. 


Log  and  Yorker,  N.  York,  Dec.  3, 1840. 
Gris. : 

I  believe  there  is  a  chance  t5  send  you  a  line  today  without  cost; 
and  I  embrace  it  for  three  purposes. 

1.  You  need  not  send  me  any  Literary  Notices,  such  as  I  have  begged 
of  you.    I  have  engaged  Raymond,  temporarily,  though  hardly  able  to  do  so, 
and  have  now  two  assistants.    Of  course,  we  ought  to  be  a  whole  team,  take 
us  altogether,  and  must  do. 

2.  I  want  to  thank  you  for  the  excellent  manner  in  which  the  outside 
of  the  New  Yorker  was  done  up  during  the  two  weeks  I  was  away.    It  could 
hardly  have  been  better. 

3.  I  want  to  curse  you  for  going  off  so  abruptly  as  you  did,  without 
leaving  any  directions.    It  has  ruined  The  New  Yorker  for  this  week — dead 
as  a  hatchet.    Raymond  is  a  good  fellow,  but  utterly  destitute  of  experience 
or  knowledge  of  where  magazines,  etc.  are  to  be  procured,  as  you  well  knew. 
He  says  he  asked  you  about  magazines,  and  you  told  him  we  could  not  have 
any  more  than  we  then  had,— Black  wood  and  Dublin.    So  he  went  to  work 
as  a  novice  would,  shears  in  first,  and  cut  out  the  most  infernal  lot  of  news 
paper  trash  ever  seen.    He  got  in  type  a  column  of  <  Lord  Chatham,'  which 


HI   J.    RAYMOND.  49 

you  published  a  month  ago ;  three  or  four  column  articles  of  amazing  an 
tiquity  and  stupidity,  and  then  gave  out  an  original  translation  of  a  notorious 
story — which  I  fear  we  have  once  published — three  columns  and  over  of 
this,  for  a  magazine  week !  Thus  The  New  Yorker  is  doomed  for  this  week, 
and  you  are  to  blame  for  it.  You  are  habitually  reckless  of  whatever  is  not 
likely  to  subserve  your  future  purposes. 

Gris,  you  must  reform  this  altogether.  Yours, 

H.  Greeley. 


30  Ann  Street,  Saturday,  [5  Dec.,  1840.  ] 
My  dear  Griswold  : — 

I  have  taken  it  into  my  head  to  write  to  you,  although  I  have 
nothing  special  to  write  about.  So  you  may  make  up  your  mind  to  endure 
the  affliction  of  an  epistle,  which  may  not  pay  you  for  the  trouble  of  wading 
through  it.  Let  me  warn  you,  however,  not  to  burn  it  unread ;  cause  vy — the 
best  part  will  be  towards  the  latter  end. 

I  believe  I  told  you  that  Greeley  had  written  to  Roberts  t5  see  if  he 
wanted  me  in  the  [  Boston  ]  Times  office.  I  have  not  yet  received  any  an 
swer,  and  therefore  know  nothing  of  the  prospect.  Have  you  had  any  oppor 
tunity  t5  make  enquiries  about  the  Philadelphia  Weeklies?— I  understood 
that  a  writer  was  wanted  for  the  [  Saturday]  Evening  Post  there;  know  you 
ought  of  this?  I  should  much  prefer  being  in  Philadelphia  to  pitching  my 
tent  in  Boston— especially  in  the  Times  office.  .  . 

.  .  .  Greeley  wants  to  write  to  you,  so  I'll  stop  my  yarn  and  let  him 
occupy  the  rest  of  the  sheet.  As  ever,  thine  truly. 

H.  J.  Raymond. 


New  York,  Dec.  5, 1840. 
Dr.  Gris : 

My  Book  of  Political  Returns  (which  you  mainly  made  up)   is 
not  to  be  found.    We  need  it.    Do  you  know  anything  about  it? 

Also,  Herbert's  articles  on  Mrs.  Hemans  and  Fragment  of  a  Play.  I 
cannot  imagine  what  has  become  of  them.  Can  you  help  us  find  them? 

I  am  doing  pretty  well  on  the  Log,  only  it  is  a  stormy  day  to-day,  and 
we  shall  sell  next  t5  none  in  the  City.  But  we  are  getting  in  a  good  list  from 
the  Country.  Thank  you  for  your  offer  to  help  sell  the  Science  of  Numbers. 
It  is  an  excellent  work,  and  I  am  interested  in  it.  .  . 

H.  Greeley. 


50  BRYANT,  RAYMOND,  GREELEY. 

The  title  of  the  work  of  Bryant  mentiond  belo  is  Selections 
from  the  American  Poets  by  William  Cullen  Bryant :  New 
York,  Harpers;  1  vol.,  316  pp.,  18°.  Raymond  wrote  of  it: — 

"Six  short  poems  are  given  from  Jones  Very,  and  this  a 
greater  number  than  we  have  from  the  works  of  any  other  of 
the  78  authors  introduced  into  this  collection.  .  .  Eleven  pages 
are  given  t6  Wilcox,  but  tw6  and  a  half  t6  Longfellow.  .  . 
Elizabeth  Park  has  twelve  pages,  Mrs.  Sigourney  five,  and 
Maria  Davidson  tw6.  .  .  On  many  accounts  we  think  it  inferior 
t6  the  *  Selections'  published  by  Mr.  Cheever  some  years  ago, 
for  that  was  accompanied  by  some  brtef  but  excellent  notices 
both  critical  and  biographical." 

Office  of  The  New  Yorker,  Friday  evening  [19  Dec.,  1840.  ] 
My  dear  Griswold  :— 

.  .  .  Things  are  going  on  finely  here :  there  is  some  probability 
that  Greeley  will  have  to  take  charge  of  the  Democratic  Press :  if  so,  we 
shall  have  business  enough.  I  had  a  letter  from  the  South  the  other  day, 
offering  $600  for  teaching  a  school  10  months.  I  wrote  about  it  and  am 
awaiting  an  answer.  I  think  it  not  unlikely  that  I  shall  go.  Did  you  get 
Bryant's  Poets?  I  wrote  a  review  of  it  in  the  Yorker  this  week.  Benjamin 
is  getting  out  an  awful  New  World  for  Christmas.  It  is  to  be  Folio,  twice 
as  large  as  now.  .  .  Yours  ever, 

H.  J.  Kaymond. 


[  Of  the  poets  named  by  Greeley,  Burleigh  is  the  only  one  mentiond  in  the 
Library  of  American  Literature.  ] 

New  York,  Dec.  21, 1840. 
Kuf  e  Gris : 

Yours  of  yesterday  reached  me  this  morning.  Thank  you  for 
your  attention  to  the  Wedgewood  business  .  .  .  Get  a  right  notice  in  the 
Ledger  if  you  can.  Swain  would  like  t5  do  me  a  kindness.  But  pay  for  it 
rather  than  not  get  a  good  one. 

Your  book  is  going  on  all  right.    I  wrote  [for  *  The  Biographical 
Annual,'  article  on  Timothy]  Flint  yesterday,  as  well  as  I  could,  with  great 


POETS   OF   EIGHTEEN-FORTY.  51 

tribulation ;  but  it  is  hard  making  brick  without  either  mortar  or  straw.  I 
could  only  get  a  few  facts  beside  those  in  your  Yorker  notice,  which  are 
abominably  vague  ...  I  took  good  care  that  my  name  should  not  appear  over 
the  article.  I  put  in  some  flummery  and  the  article  will  pass  well  enough, 
with  all  but  those  who  know  something.  .  . 

Kemember  some  Yorker  poets  in  your  volume  of  Poetry  if  consistent 
with  the  quiet  of  a  good  conscience,  which  is  to  be  regarded  above  all  things. 
In  especial,  <Ri/pah'  by  B.  F.  Ransom,  something  by  '  J.  H.  K. '  or  J.  H.  S. 
(formerly  Julia  H.  Kinney,  now  Mrs.  Julia  H.  Scott  of  Towanda,  Pa.),  a 
scrap  from  Mary  Emily  Jackson  if  it  will  do,  and  something  from  Wm.  H. 
Burleigh  anyhow.  "W.  H.  C.  Hosmer  and  Mrs.  E.  J.  Eames  ought  to  be 
considered  and  not  kicked  aside  because  they  have  never  been  in  a  volume. 
Try  to  give  a  fair  chance  to  the  unknown  to  fame,  but  don't  spoil  your 
volume  with  them.  Dorft  Raym  quietly  poke  it  into  Bryant's  volume  in  the 
last  Yorker?  Don't  forget  some  Biographical  notation,  very  brief  and 
expressive,  at  least  to  a  few  who  are  really  Poets. 

Raym  has  a  good  offer  to  go  South  to  teach  school,  but  I  shall  try  t5 
keep  him.  I  can  train  him  up  in  the  way  he  should  go  shortly. 

I  met  Grund  Saturday  in  Mr.  Clay's  room  at  the  Astor.  We  spoke 
but  a  few  minutes.  I  bragged  on  you  and  he  heartily  concurred ;  but  won't 
you  catch  it  (somebody  tells  me  that  thinks  he  knows)  for  serving  up  Dr. 
Thomas  Dunn  English  the  way  you  have?  Ah,  Gris!  Gris!  shave  your 
horrid  claws!  Yours, 

H.  Greeley. 


4  Yorker'  and  « Cabin,'  New  York,  Dec.  26,  1840. 
R.  W.  G. 

I  have  five  minutes  to  write  you,  and  two  things  to  say;  so  I  will 
write  them  and  be  done  as  soon  as  possible.  .  . 

I  shall  walk  right  into  your  Philadelphia  publishers,  very  brisk,  if  they 
don't  behave  themselves.  They  have  sent  me  three  or  four  of  their  ordinary 
rye-and-Indian  novels  this  week,  and  not  Mrs.  Norton's  Poems,  which  you 
know  The  New  Yorker  has  done  as  much  to  sell  as  any  other  paper.  You 
have  become  god-father  for  their  good  behaviour;  I  pray  you  look  to  your 
responsibility. 

I  thank  you  for  your  kindness  in  respect  to  my  Postmaster  General 
ship  !  !  !  !  but  Gris.,  I  pray  you  to  have  a  care  t5  your  practice  with  the  long 


52  THE  CABINET  OF  1841. 

bow.  It  is  too  adventurous,  I  assure  you,  and  spoils  the  marksmanship. 
The  things  you  have-said  of  me  there  are  more  incredible  than  anything  in 
Munchausen,  and  every  intelligent  man  will  know  it. 

I  understand  Thad.  Stevens  is  t5  be  Postmaster  General.  Well,  he's  a 
trump,  and  will  do  good  service,  but  a  leetle  too  savage  a  politician.  I  reckon 
your  Philadelphia  folks  will  kick  at  it;  but  better  Stevens  P.  M.  G.  than  John 
Sergeant  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  in  my  opinion.  I  shall  be  right  glad  t5 
hear  that  old  Tip  finds  at  least  half  of  his  Cabinet  elsewhere  than  in  Con 
gress.  Yours,  abundantly," 

Horace  Greeley. 


New  York,  Jan.  15,  1841. 
Friend  Gris  : 

Your  letter  opens  up  a  world  of  Greek  to  me.  In  the  first  place, 
I  have  never  said  that  Stevens  would  be  P.  M.  G.  to  my  knowledge.  I  may 
have  said  that  if  Ewing  does  not  take  it  Thad.  will  probably  get  it,  as  a  guess 
merely.  I  am  anxious  that  a  good,  thorough,  efficient,  capable  man  may  get 
that  particular  place— one  that  will  know  how  to  effect  the  great  Reforms  so 
much  needed.  Thad.  possesses  many  of  the  qualifications,  but  he  would  be 
too  prescriptive,  and  I  fear  he  has  the  reputation  (right  or  wrong)  of  being 
an  unscrupulous  politician.  I  have  feared  that  he  would  not  make  the  best 
kind  of  a  P.  M.  G.— I  mean  the  most  judicious  and  popular— that  he  would 
be  capable  and  efficient  I  fully  believe.  The  question  is,  Where  will  a  better 
man  be  found?  I  mean,  if  Ewing  declines,  as  it  is  said  he  will.  I  think  in 
such  case  Old  Tip  would  do  himself  great  credit  by  restoring  John  M'  Lean 
of  Ohio,  or  taking  Elisha  Whittlesey.  This  is  the  great  post  for  the  next  two 
years,  and  I  pray  that  it  be  well  filled.  What  do  you  know  or  think  of  John 
V.  L.  McMahon  of  Maryland?  Do  let  me  know  quickly  if  you  hear  any 
thing  new  on  this  point;  for  I  pray  that  it  go  right,  and  then  all  will  be  well. 
Our  Clay  folks  here  want  Gulian  C.  Verplanck  called  into  the  Cabinet 
as  Secretary  of  the  Treasury.  I  fear  it  won't  d5  to  take  both  the  big  ones 
from  this  side  of  the  Delaware ;  though  Verplanck  is  most  capable.  As  to 
John  Sargeant,  it  must  not  be  thought  of.  Better  Kick  Biddle  at  once,  if 
that  rotten  concern  the  '  Monster,'  is  to  be  represented  in  the  Cabinet  at  all. 
It  would  be  terribly  odious  here  to  have  J.  S.  in  the  Treasury.  My  man  is 
Hugh  S.  Legare,  but  I  know  he  won't  get  it.  Clayton  ( J.  M. )  is  able,  but 
too  lazy.  I  think  Benj.  W.  Leigh  is  too  much  of  a  gentleman  of  leisure  and 


JAMES   WATSON   WEBB.  53 

courtesy  to  rake  up  all  the  rate  bales  of  the  Treasury  as  they  ought  to  be 
raked. — Enough  of  air-castleing. 

As  to  the  [  J :  ]  O.  Sargent  flare-up.  I  never  read  the  proceedings  of  the 
Montgomery  festival,  and  never  dreamed  that  1  and  Thurlow  were  there 
immortalized.  (Pray  send  me  a  paper).  But  the  explanation  of  Sargent's 
furor  is  simply  this.  James  Watson  Webb  wants  to  be  Postmaster  of  this 
city!  It  is  the  most  awfully  unpopular  idea  that  ever  entered  any  man's 
head — that  of  putting  him  into  that  office :  it  would  raise  a  rebellion  here  as 
sure  as  tomorrow.  But  he  has  been  round  boring  every  big-bug  in  the  State 
to  bone  for  him,  and  he  feels  confident  of  success.  The  idea  of  such  an 
appointment  is  enough  to  raise  a  cold  sweat  on  a  statue  of  Washington. 
Well,  Mr.  Webb  (who  has  lately  paid  off  his  'Courier'  and  personal  debts 
— $100,000 — at  the  rate  of  just  0  on  the  dollar,  by  an  assignee's  juggle),  is  alarmed 
at  seeing  other  Editors  spoken  of  as  most  efficient,  for  that  places  him  else 
where  than  in  the  forefront  of  the  battle.  He  dictated  and  John  wrote — '  all 
vich  accounts,  you  see,  gentlemen  and  ladies,  for  the  milk  in  the  Cocoanut.' 
I  learn  that  the  Biographical  Annual  does  not  sell  well— in  fact,  Gris.,  it  is 
not  well  designed  or  got  up.  If  it  were  to  sell  as  a  Gift-Book,  it  ought  t5 
have  been  more  nicely  embellished,  and  much  better  printed.  It  ain't  in 
good  keeping.  I  have  done  all  I  could  for  it.  I  will  call  at  Feuuell's  tonight, 
and  tell  him  what  to  do  for  you.  .  . 

I  will  write  you  a  letter  on  York  affairs  or  a  leader  soon— probably 
tomorrow.  See  if  the  Yorker  and  Cabin  are  not  both  good  this  week. 

Raymond  is  clever  but  careless.  He  don't  feel  the  grave  importance 
of  our  vocation,  and  the  necessity  of  throwing  earnestness,  power  into  every 
thing.  I  am  afraid  he  has  hurt  me  by  the  ultra-Federalism  of  his  remarks 
on  Hamilton  this  week,  though  I  have  softened  and  qualified  them,  especially 
by  my  note.  You  will  be  startled  by  my  article  on  Social  Reform— no 
matter.  We  are  going  to  issue  a  specimen  paper  of  that  faith  soon.  Revtew 
it.  I  shall  also  publish  a  new  Politician's  Register,  Feb.  1st.  .  .  Yours, 

Horace  Greeley. 

The  references  to  •  social  reform '  in  the  foregoing  and  folloing  letters 
ar  explaind  by  Thurlow  Weed  thus : — 

"  In  1841  a  young  man  by  the  name  of  Brisbane  returned  home  with  a 
mission.  That  mission  was  to  reform  our  social  system,  converting  individ 
uals  and  families  into  'communities'  upon  the  Fourier  plan.  Mr.  Greeley 
was  his  first  convert,  and  devoted  his  paper  so  zealously  t5  the  French  plan 


54  GREELEY  ON  FOURIERISM. 

of  overthrowing  our  social  system  as  to  occasion  serious  alarm.  Alter 
remonstrating  privately  and  earnestly  but  in  vain  with  Mr.  Greeley,  I  pub 
lished  an  able  article  written  by  the  late  Cicero  Loveridge  against  Fourierism. 
That  article  provoked  the  folloing  letter  [dated  19  Feb.,  1841]  from  Mr. 
Greeley  in  vindication  of  his  raid  against  what  he  regarded  as  fundamental 
errors  in  our  social  system :" 

Thurlow  Weed,  Esq. :  I  thank  you  for  publishing  my  reply  to  your  ( or 
rather  Loveridge's  )  harsh  criticism  on  <  The  Future,'  and  on  me  as  connected 
with  it.  I  do  not  doubt  that  Loveridge's  article  was  well  intended,  but  it  was 
calculated  to  give  countenance  t5  the  wrong  impressions  created  by  Bennett's, 
the  '  Courier's,'  and  others'  base  misrepresentations  of  '  The  Future,'  which 
were  not  dictated  by  kindly  intentions.  To  have  you  join  in  the  cry  was 
more  than  I  could  relish ;  though  I  did  not  expect  you  to  look  with  favor  on 
the  new  notions  of  our  little  band  of  reformers,  and  had  carefully  kept  the 
paper  away,  lest  it  should  provoke  you  to  fall  upon  it. 

To  show  you  that  my  reply  t5  L.'s  criticism  was  not  uncalled  for,  let 
me  quote  the  following  passage  from  a  letter  I  received  yesterday  from  one 
of  the  ablest  and  best  young  men  of  Albany.  "  I  do  not  recollect  distinctly 
the  article  in  question,  but  I  remember  the  regret  I  felt  at  the  conviction 
pressed  upon  me  that  H.  G.'s  head  was  turned  awry,  and  his  usefulness 
likely  to  be  impaired  by  an  unhappy  misdirection  of  purpose.  I  am  glad, 
therefore,  that  you  have  done  yourself  and  your  doctrine  justice.*'  .  .  . 

I  think  you  take  the  wrong  view  of  the  political  bearing  of  this 
matter,  though  I  act  without  reference  to  that.  Hitherto  all  the  devotees 
of  social  reform  of  any  kind — all  the  advocates  of  a  higher  destiny  for  labor — 
all  the  combatants  against  unjust  and  false  social  principles— in  short,  all  the 
social  discontent  of  the  country  has  been  regularly  repelled  from  the  Whig 
party  and  attracted  to  its  opposite.  This  forms  a  heavy  dead-weight  against 
us.  It  strikes  me  that  is  unwise  to  persist  in  this  course,  unless  we  are 
ambitious  to  be  considered  the  enemies  of  improvement  and  the  bulwarks  of 
an  outgrown  aristocracy  in  the  country.  But  I  will  not  ask  you  to  think  as  I 
d6.  I  only  want  a  chance  to  think  for  myself.  Yours, 

Horace  Greeley. 

"  Mr.  Greeley's  delusion  in  reference  to  Fourierism,"  continues  Weed, 
"  cost  him  dearly  in  more  ways  than  one.  For  a  season  it  lessened  the  cir 
culation  and  influence  of  his  paper,  and  impaired  public  confidence  in  his 
judgment;  while  the  time,  labor,  and  money  given  to  'phalanxes'  and 


RAYMOND  ON  FOURIERI8M.  5ft 

'Brook  Farms'  resulted  in  personal  mortification  and  pecuniary  loss. 
Long  before  his  death,  not  only  the  Fourierite  reform,  but  '  table-rappings ' 
and  other  "  isms"  which  had  attracted  and  misled  him,  had  passed  away.  " 


At  the  date  of  the  next  letter,  Raymond  had  begun  his  twenty-first  year. 
His  want  of  sympathy  with  Greeley's  affinity  for  "isms"  (except 
ing  Abolitionism,  and  even  that  with  reserves,  since  he  thot  it  threatend  the 
success  of  the  Whig  party  )  was  probably  the  principal  cause  of  his  retire 
ment  from  The  Tribune.  In  regard  to  Socialism,  in  particular,  the  views 
here  expressd  foreshado  the  famous  discussion  in  1846  between  the  tw5 
in  their  respectiv  papers. 

Office  of  The  New-Yorker,  Feb.  7, 1841. 
My  dear  Griswold : 

Greeley  and  I  have  been  wondering  for  a  century  whether  you 
had  forgotten  us  in  Gotham  entirely,  and  as  I  see  no  probability  that  our 
doubts  will  be  soon  resolved  in  the  ordinary  course  of  events,  I  am  deter 
mined  to  thrust  a  scrawl  under  your  nose,  so  that  you  needs  must  be 
reminded  of  our  existence,  at  least.  We  are  getting  along  grandly,  and  I 
wish  you  could  some  morning  peep  in  upon  us.  I  thought  you  were  to  be 
here  '  long  time  ago '  ?  I  am  getting  considerably  naturalized  in  the  New- 
Yorker,  and  I  am  glad  to  see  that  I  succeed  so  well  in  picking  up  Literary 
Intelligence  that  you  think  it  worth  stealing.  How  does  the  Standard 
flourish?  It's  much  like  a  jewel  in  a  swine's  snout,  among  the  Philadelphia 
trash.  It  looks  fresh,  there's  always  something  in  it  that  every  one  did  not 
know  before.  I  noticed  that  your  New  York  correspondent  has  stopped  his 
letters.  Do  you  want  another — and  don't  you  want  me?  If  I  can  write  you 
such  as  you'd  like,  I'd  be  glad  to  do  it  cheap.  I'll  try  and  pick  up  all  the 
commercial  news,  etc.,  etc.,  to  your  liking.  How  does  your  Annual  sell?  I 
have  been  afraid  that  my  commission  was  very  bunglingly  discharged  with 
regard  to  it,  especially  in  not  getting  in  the  Foreign  Necrology  :  but  Wright 
said  that  't  would  overrun  the  number  of  pages,  and  Greeley  said  that  it 
would  delay  the  book  too  much.  So  yielding  to  his  advice  I  concluded  to 
let  it  go  and  get  it  out  as  soon  as  possible.  .  . 

Don't  you  think  the 'Future'  a  stupendous  humbug?  Greeley  got 
himself  into  a  scrape  by  connecting  himself  with  ^it,  and  the  city,— especially 
the  Sunday, — papers  came  down  upon  him  with  a  vengeance.  He's  rather 


56  H:   J.   RAYMOND. 

sorry  that  he  enlisted,  and  is  trying  to  take  the  curse  off  by  advertising 
Brisbane's  name  as  Editor.  It  does  not  sell  at  all.  They  had  a  meeting  here 
the  other  night  to  organize  a  society  for  the  promotion  of  their  objects,  and 
found  themselves  embarrassed  by  the  unexpected  co-operation  of  sundry 
Owenists,  whose  alliance  of  course  will  make  their  schemes  as  popular  as 
anything  could  be.  They're  bust  up  some — I  don't  believe  another  number 
of  their  paper  will  ever  see  the  light. 

[Epes]  Sargent  has  left  the  Signal  and  Ben  [jamin]  is  alone.  They 
sponge  nearly  all  their  editorial  from  Greeley,  who  makes  up  the  '  Congress ' 
and  writes  all  the  political  part.  In  return  he  gets  occasionally  the  use  of 
their  type,  and  the  strong  competition  of  the  [New]  World.  They  send  off 
specimen  Nos.  to  his  subs.,  and  run  him  as  much  as  possible.  He's  worth  a 
million  of  them,  in  any  '  way  they  can  fix  it.'  I  shall  probably  stay  with  him 
through  the  year,  until  May  at  any  rate,  and  then  if  he's  satisfied  I'll  stay 
longer.  He  pays  me  $10  a  week  now  and  says  he'll  advance  presently. 
This  is  not  very  lucrative,  but  if  I  could  get  in  addition  the  l  Correspondence ' 
of  one  or  two  papers  I  could  make  a  very  fair  '  go '  of  it.  Do  you  know  of 
any  in  Phil,  who  wishes  oner1  Mann  and  I  room  together  and  have  great 
times.  "We  board  in  Vesey  St.  near  the  Astor. 

But  the  bell  is  ringing  for  church,  and  as  you  know  my  habits,  I  need 
not  say  that  I  must  be  off.  If  you  can  divine  no  other  reason  for  my  send 
ing  such  a  brief  and  contemptible  scrawl,  just  charge  it  to  my  extreme 
solicitude  lest  you  should  some  day  be  publishing  my  demise.  Give  my  best 
regards  to  your  lady, — 'poke  it  into'  the  Phil,  jackanapes  and  believe  me 
ever,  Yours  truly. 

H.  J.  Raymond. 

P.  S.— Don't  forget  to  write  me  a  letter  even  if  it  be  no  better  than 
this :  I  shall  yet  have  the  satisfaction  that  it  can't  be  worse.  I  sent  to 
[T:W.  ]  White  the  other  day  an  enormously  long  and  enormously  stupid 
review  of  Hillhouse.  Greeley  bored  me  a  long  while  to  have  me  write  it, 
and  I  consented.  Farewell, 

H.  J.  R. 


New  York,  Feb.  9,  [1841  ]. 
Rufus  W.  Griswold,  Esq.— Dear  Sir, 

I  hasten  to  answer  your  favor  of  Sunday.    I  am  quite  willing 
that  you  should  use  my  pieces  in  the  preparation  of  your  work,  and  I  leave 


H:  j.  RAYMOND.  57 

you  to  select  such  as  you  like  best  having  full  confidence  in  your  ability  to 
prepare  such  a  book  with  honor  to  yourself  and  to  the  authors  whose  pro 
ductions  you  propose  to  collect.  When  I  can  find  time,  I  will  give  you  my 
views  concerning  those  offerings  which  I  think  less  poor  than  others,  and 
you  can  be  guided  by  my  taste  or  not,  as  you  please. — If  you  wish  a  memoir 
I  will  send  you  such  information  as  may  be  necessary  and  available. 

As  you  speak  about  portraits  and  some  time  ago  spoke  to  me  about 
letting  you  have  that  taken  by  Harding,  I  surmise  that  you  may  wish  mine; 
if  you  do,  pray  don't  think  of  using  Harding's ;  there  is  a  far  better  one,  just 
taken,  from  which  Dick  or  Prudhomme  could  make  an  excellent  engraving. 

I  have  not  received  the  Naval  and  Military  Magazine.  I  doubt  not  the 
Sketch  will  be  quite  good  for  us  to  publish :— and  I  will  have  the  two  pictures 
you  mention  engraved  for  the  New  World  by  Butler  immediately,  provided 
the  $50  be  immediately  forwarded.  As  we  are  making  headway  in  getting 
out  a  second  Leviathan  sheet,  the  sketch  and  the  pictures  shall  appear  in 
that  as  well  as  regular  paper, — provided  the  Magazine  and  money  be  for 
warded  within  a  week's  time.  I  am  very  faithfully  Yours, 

Park  Benjamin. 
P.  8.— We  print  35,000  copies  of  Leviathan  sheet. 


The  remark  in  the  folloing  letter  about  college  graduates  is  probably  the 
earliest  version  of  Greeley's  famous  saying, — the  form  in  which  it  is  best 
known  being :  "Of  all  hornd  cattle  a  college  graduate  is  the  worst." 

Greeley's  later  opinion  of  Raymond,  tho  they  remained  together  only  a 
few  years,  was  much  hier  than  the  one  here  expressd  :  "  I  had  not  much 
for  him  to  do,"  he  wrote  in  1867,  "  till  the  Tribune  was  started  :  then  I  had 
enough:  and  I  never  found  another  person,  barely  of  age  and  just  from  his 
studies,  who  evinced  so  signal  and  such  versatile  ability  in  journalism  as  he 
did.  Abler  and  stronger  men  I  may  have  met;  a  cleverer,  readier,  more 
generally  efficient  journalist  I  never  saw."  Raymond  wrote:  "I  was  with 
him  less  than  four  years,  instead  of  eight,  as  he  says :  and  though  I  did 
work,  I  believe,  quite  as  hard  during  that  time  upon  the  Tribune  as  he  now 
gives  me  credit  for  having  done,  I  think  I  have  worked  still  harder  for  a 
good  many  years  since  that  time.  But  I  certainly  deserve  no  special  credit 
for  it  in  either  case.  I  did  it  from  no  special  sense  of  duty,— still  less  with 
any  special  aim  or  ambitious  purpose.  I  liked  it." 


H:   J.   RAYMOND. 

New  York,  Feb.  20, 1841. 


B.  W.  Gr. 


You've  heard,  I  reckon,  of  the  chap  who,  after  much  terrible 
swearing,  turned  out  of  the  road  because  the  other  fellow  wouldn't  turn  out 
for  him.  Well,  his  case  is  mine.  I've  waited  a  spell  to  hear  from  you,  and 
now  I  write  to  persecute  you  into  writing.  However,  take  your  own  time 
for  it,  and  write  just  when  you  have  something  to  say  and  time  to  say  it. 

Gris,  I'll  bet  you  a  York  shillin'  you're  sorry  you  left  me.  Cause  why? 
Your  paper  don't  look  as  though  it  had  the  bump  of  payology  very  strongly 
developed,  and  the  only  principle  that  I  have  ever  found  you  tenacious  of 
is  that  of  having  your  pay  at  least  as  fast  as  you  earn  it.  Yet  I've  no  doubt 
that  it  will  be  best  for  you  in  the  end.  Here  you  were  a  good  deal  a  chimney 
corner  man,  while  in  P  [hiladelphia]  you  see  more  of  the  great  world,  and 
live  on  a  larger  scale ;  and  though  you  won't  do  for  a  politician,  and  will 
damage  yourself  if  you  attempt  it,  yet  you  are  rather  tall  in  your  own  depart 
ment  of  Literature,  and  Philadelphia  is  the  place  where  you  are  needed.  If 
the  animals  who  run  the  Saturday  Courier  would  secure  your  services  as 
Editor,  give  you  $1200  a  year,  and  100  dollars  additional  for  every  1,000 
increase  on  their  subscription,  they  would  do  a  wise  thing.  But  then,  if 
they  get  a  million  subscribers  for  a  mean  paper,  who  knows  but  they  might 
run  down  if  they  printed  a  good  one?  Doubtless  the  children  of  this  world 
are  wiser  than  the  children  of  light. 

I  suppose  it  is  best  for  me,  too,  that  you  left  me,  but  it  has  been  hard 
to  find  out.  My  new  hands  were  terribly  raw.  The  most  useless  animal 
endued  with  the  power  of  ratiocination,  I  will  maintain,  is  a  young  man  just 
out  of  college.  Raym.  is  one  of  the  best  of  his  class,  but  that  class  is  awful. 
He  can  write  rather  better  than  you  can  ( though  slovenly  English  and  often 
on  uninteresting  themes )  but  he  knows  ( or  did  know  )  nothing  of  the  details 
of  Editorship,  nothing  about  making  up  a  paper  in  the  head  before  it  is 
transferred  to  type,  and  has  no  judgment  with  regard  to  selections.  There 
you  are  unrivaled ;  I  was  never  afraid  that  you  would  down  the  paper  unless 
by  writing  in  it ;  but  he  catches  up  a  pair  of  shears  and  dives  into  a  pile  of 
exchanges  like  a  rat  in  a  scrap-book,  making  his  selections  on  about  the  same 
principle.  O  I  have  had  a  weary  time  of  it!  for  my  other  man,  Darlington, 
is  dull  and  heavy,  and  neither  of  them  delights  in  working  over-hours.  But 
things  are  looking  better  now.  Both  are  learning  what  is  to  be  done  and 
how  t5  do  it;  two  proof-readers  are  better  than  one, — I  mean  to  learn  the 


HORACE  GREELKY.  59 

art  of  condensation  and  the  system  of  compiling  a  newspaper — and  on  the 
whole  I  am  not  sorry  for  the  change. 

The  great  beasts  ["  Brother  Jonathan  "  and  "  New  World  "  ]  murder 
me  in  the  way  of  circulation.  They  make  so  much  noise  and  bluster  that 
they  bully  people  into  buying  their  trash  if  not  reading  it.  Did  you  ever  see 
more  unmitigated  humbugs  than  they  now  are  in  the  general?  Why  do  you 
puff  them?  Show  me  a  valuable  editorial  in  either  of  them !  The  Jonathan 
is  best  of  the  two ;  but  how  can  folks  take  thousands  of  The  Quarto  World 
and  more  of  the  Yankee  folio?  Do  look  through  a  tile  of  the  two  and  see  if 
I  am  so  grossly  deceived. 

Epes  [Sargent]  you  know,  is  out  of  the  World,  and  now  in  your  city, 
on  his  way  to  Washington.  He  was  poked  out,  I  guess,  pretty  much  like 
another  chap.  They  talk  of  selling  a  third  of  the  Concern  for  some  $5,000  or 
so.  All  is  arranged  except  the  purchaser  and  the  funds.  Them's  the  chaps 
I  haven't  seen  yet.  They  profess  t5  have  made  $5,000  the  first  year :  then 
how  is  Epes  ejected  for  not  paying  in  his  share  of  the  capital  invested?  But 
mum's  the  word ;  whisper  to  no  one.  They  mean  to  gag  the  world  with  their 
next  double. 

We  are  likely  to  sell  the  copyright  of  the  Science  of  Numbers  (I  and 
Wedgewood  )  to  the  Harpers  at  what  promises  to  be  a  remunerating  price. 
We  have  sent  on  a  few  copies  to  try  at  your  coming  Trade-Sale.  Now  I 
want  you  to  find  out  just  when  this  sale  is  to  be,  and  directly  before  it  send 
books  to  different  Editors  and  get  it  noticed  if  possible.  Manage  this  neatly 
for  me,  if  you  have  to  write  the  notices  or  cut  them  from  old  papers,  and  I'll 
puff  your  book  when  it  comes  out. 

My  friend  W.  Falconer  is  coming  out  from  Paris.  I  want  to  get  him 
some  employment.  If  he  can  produce  a  real  good  translation  of  the  decent 
Songs  of  Beranger,  don't  you  think  one  of  the  Philadelphia  Houses  could  be 
induced  t5  publish  them  on  fair  terms?  I  know  you  don't  like  him  as  an 
original  writer,  but  he  can  translate,  and  you  know  it.  Witness  '  The  Mid 
night  Review,' '  My  Old  Coat,'  etc.  I  wish  you  would  sometime  show  these 
to  somebody.  Falc.  would  make  a  rich  volume,  of  such  a  size  as  might  be 
desired,  pretty  cheap.  Think  of  it. 

My  candle  is  out,  paper  ditto,  and  I  fear  I  am  too  late  t5  pay  the 
postage— so  I  close  without  saying  half.  I  must  write  again.  My  wife  has  a 
very  severe  illness.  Yours, 

Horace  Greeley. 


60  "  THK  POETS  AND  POETRY  OF  AMERICA.  " 

New  York,  Feb.  26, 1841 
My  dear  Gris : 

I  have  twenty  minutes  before  Mail-time,  and  fifty  things  to  do, 
but  I  think  I  must  devote  them  to  answering  your  letter.  And  first,  of 
Hosmer.  I  have  no  doubt  he  would  be  glad  to  d5  what  you  desire.  If  you 
prefer  it,  I  will  write  to  him,  which  will  put  the  matter  beyond  doubt.  But 
I  presume  you  will  have  no  difficulty  if  you  write  yourself.  Command  me 
in  all  things.  If  I  could  do  any  thing  for  your  work,  I  would  with  pleasure. 
We  have  announced  it;  if  you  will  send  me  a  Prospectus  I  will  publish  it. 
Aren't  you  going  to  have  an  appendix  to  your  volume  containing  one  or 
more  pieces  from  such  writers  as  may  have  casually  written  a  good  thing  or 
so,  but  have  no  claim  or  desire  to  be  considered  Poets?  Depend  on  it  this 
will  be  better  than  to  cram  them  into  such  company  as  you  must  otherwise 
do.  For  instance,  Edward  Everett,  J.  Q.  Adams,  Flint,  E.  H.  Wilde,  A.  H. 
Everett,  etc.,  have  written  fair  things;  but  to  jumble  them  in  with  your 
Poets  will  be  murder.  Then  you  should  have  another  compartment,  consist 
ing  of  a  selection  or  tw5  from  the  writings  of  promising  young  writers,  who 
deserve  something  better  than  absolute  neglect;  but  wh5  do  not  deserve  a 
biographical  notice  with  selections.  This  might  be  in  smaller  type  and 
merely  refer  to  the  place  of  birth,  time  of  ditto,  and  residence  of  these  bard- 
lings.  Wm.  Wallace,  Mrs.  Esling,  G.  P.  Morris,  etc.  ( specimens  of  different 
classes )  will  not  do  to  run  into  the  body  of  your  work ;  nor  will  it  quite  do 
not  t5  know  them.  I  recommend  a  middle  course,  as  at  once  politic  and 
just.  Think  of  it. 

Mind — have  one  or  two  classes ;  casual  writers  of  fair  verse ;  and  per 
sons  aiming  to  be  poets  who  have  not  quite  accomplished  it.  Don't  attempt 
to  mix  them ;  you  will  offend  the  former  and  damage  your  work.  Enough 
for  this  once,  Gris,  I  mean  that  work  of  yours  shall  be  the  basis  of  fortune 
and  fame  for  you.  It  must  be  not  only  good  but  in  some  respects  original, 
to  overbalance  CheeVer's,  and  one  or  two  other  compilations.  Perhaps  you 
had  better  make  another  class  of  those  who  were  once  Poets,  but  by  lapse  of 
time  and  change  of  taste  have  ceased  to  be  so  regarded.  Think. 

Mind  that  your  good  Poets  and  Poetry,  duly  set  off  must  come  first, 
and  make  quite  half  your  work.  .  . 

You  are  displeased  that  I  am  not  an  applicant  for  office.  I  can't  help 
it.  That  road  is  too  muddy  now;  it  is  thoroughly  cut  up  with  the  throng  of 
hungry  travelers.  I  do  not  believe  that  even  you  would  have  respected  me 
if  I  had  been  among  them ;  certainly  I  could  not  have  respected  myself.  I 


GREELEY  ON  OFFICE-SEEKING.  61 

d5  not  regard  either  Office  or  Money  as  the  supreme  good ;  and  though  I 
never  had  either,  I  have  been  so  near  to  each  as  to  see  what  they  are  worth 
very  nearly.  I  regard  principle  and  self-respect  as  more  important  than 
either.  I  could  not  have  run  around  begging  support  for  an  application 
without  doing  myself  what  I  despise  and  condemn  in  others;  so  I  hold  off. 
I  wished  to  aid  efficiently  in  carrying  into  execution  the  Retrenchment  and 
Reform  we  promised ;  I  have  done,  am  doing,  and  will  d5  it;  I  could  not, 
had  I  been  a  candidate  for  office.  I  have  asked  nothing,  and  will  have 
nothing,  but  not  simply  because  I  have  not  asked  it;  I  might  have  obtained 
something  perhaps,  but  it  is  better  so.  I  will  not  have  the  world  say  that  I 
have  given  hours  that  were  needed  for  rest  and  for  bread  t5  the  Whig  cause 
with  the  expectation  or  design  of  getting  office.  I  never  thought  of  it.  If 
the  public  shall  ask  why  I  am  not  an  applicant,  is  not  that  better  than  though 
they  should  inquire  why  I  am?  Enough. 

Don't-  I  rejoice  at  the  passage  of  the  cutting-down  clauses  in  the 
General  Appropriation  Bill?  Glory!  I  hope  they  will  yet  sweep  every 
thing  in  proportion.  If  the  Whigs  won't  be  honest,  I  trust  the  Tories  will 
walk  them  right  square  up  to  the  bull-ring. 

As  to  '  The  Future  '—the  great  mistake  on  your  part  is  that  you  do  not 
begin  to  understand  our  system.  You  are  [as]  ignorant  as  a  hoe-handle.  Sup 
pose  you  as  editor,  Grund  as  publisher,  another  good  fellow  as  printer,  a 
fourth  as  papermaker,  etc.,  were  to  combine  in  a  great  newspaper  establish 
ment,  each  having  his  share  of  the  profits  according  to  his  hours  of  labor, 
his  capital  and  skill,  couldn't  you  work  as  heartily  as  though  you  were 
a  hireling?  You  defy  all  common  sense.  Then  about  home.  We  propose 
that  each  man  shall  have  his  own  exclusive  home — not  in  the  cellar  or  garret 
of  some  rich  man's  edifice,  but  a  good  wholesome  suite  of  rooms.  Do  under 
stand  what  we  propose  before  you  attempt  to  proselyte.  Yours. 

H.  Greeley. 

We  have  Weed's  testimony  that  Greeley 's  opinion  of  office-seeking  at 
this  time,  was  not  expressd  only  in  letters.  "Viewed,"  he  writes,  "in  the 
light  which  subsequent  years  and  events  shed  upon  his  character 
and  conduct,  my  earlier  impressions  must  have  been  erroneous,  or 
the  Horace  Greeley  of  1840  was  not  the  Horace  Greeley  of  1870.  For  exam 
ple  :  Up  to  and  for  several  years  after  1840,  Mr.  Greeley  had  no  patience 
with  and  could  not  endure  the  importunity  of  office-seekers.  His  greatest 
annoyance  after  a  successful  election  was  that  "  office-beggars  "  (  as  he  stig- 


62  GREELEY  ON  OFFICE-SEEKING. 

matized  them  )  bored  him  for  letters  to  governors  and  presidents.    The  idea 
that  men  sought  office  as  a  reward  for  political  service  disgusted  him." 

On  the  19th  of  the  month  Greeley  had  written  to  Weed  :  "  We  have 
nothing  new  here  in  politics,  but  large  and  numerous  swarms  of  office- 
hunting  locusts  sweeping  on  t5  Washington  daily.  All  the  rotten-land  spec 
ulators,  and  broken-bank  directors,  swindling  cashiers,  etc.,  are  in  full  cry 
for  office !  office !  and  even  so  humble  a  man  as  I  am  is  run  down  for  letters ! 
'  None  of  your  half-way  things !  Write  strong ! '  Curse  their  nauseous  im 
pudence  !  Some  of  them  I  give  such  a  blessing  as  will  stick  in  their  crops 
these  many  days ;  some  of  them,  God  knows  most  reluctantly,  I  give  letters 
for,  because  I  can't  help  it.  I've  a  good  mind  t5  advertise  in  the  "  National 
Intelligencer"  that  all  persons  are  forbid  harboring  or  trusting  office-seekers 
on  my  account  after  this  date.  Shall  we  never  be  rid  of  this  infernal  rush 
for  spoils?  My  soul  is  sick  of  it." 


New  York,  Feb.  28, 1841. 
R.  W.  Griswold,  Esq.,  My  dear  Sir : 

I  have  an  opportunity  tomorrow  morning  by  Swain,  and  I  write 
you  a  line  on  a  subject  that  I  overlooked  in  my  last  letter.  It  is  this :  I  have 
heard  that  the  professorship  of  chemistry,  etc.  is  vacant  in  Jefferson  Medical 
College  of  your  City,  while  I  have  a  friend  whom  I  wish  to  see  located  in 
some  northern  city.  I  refer  to  Dr.  Wm.  H.  Ellet,  Prof,  of  Chemistry,  etc., 
in  the  University  of  S.  C.  at  Columbia,  and  who  enjoys  I  think  a  good  repu 
tation.  But  of  that  I  don't  pretend  to  judge.  You  know  he  is  the  husband 
of  Mrs.  Ellet,  and  she,  I  am  confident,  would  prefer  a  more  Northern 
location,  and  I  don't  think  the  Doctor  would  object.  He  is  a  great  favorite 
where  he  is,  and  a  few  years  since  his  salary  was  raised  unsolicited  from 
$2,000  to  $2,500.  I  think  he  would  answer,  even  in  fastidious  Philadelphia. 
Now  I  wish  when  you  can  you  would  inquire  about  this  professorship ; 
whether  vacant;  wTho  is  spoken  of  for  it;  how  much  it  pays;  what  steps  are 
proper  to  place  Prof.  Ellet's  name  favorably  before  the  appointing  power, 
etc.  etc.,  and  write  me  directly.  Yours, 

H.  Greeley. 

P.  S.— Letter  from  Bowe ;  has  been  sick  a  month ;  I  shall  meet  him  in 
Albany  on  the  19th  prox.  My  wife  has  had  a  hard  time  with  the  Varioloid, 
but  is  now  nearly  well. 


CLARK  AND  PARTON  ON  GREELEY.  63 

The  publication  of  '  The  Tribune'  was  begun  10th  April,  1841.  "  We 
never  think  of  our  old  friend  Horace  Greeley,"  wrote  Clark  in  '  The  Knick 
erbocker,'  "  or  read  his  journal,  which  we  do  every  day,  without  wishing 
that  those  distant  editors  who  take  the  cue  of  their  impressions  from  parti 
san  or  rival  journals,  could  really  see  and  know  the  man  as  he  is;  a  man 
careless,  it  may  be,  of  the  style  of  his  dress,  preferring  comfort  to  fashion, 
but  yet  of  scrupulous  cleanliness  in  person  and  habiliments  always ;  possess 
ing  a  benevolent  heart,  and  '  clothed  with  charity  as  with  a  garment ;'  bestow 
ing  with  a  free  hand  to  the  truly  needy  and  deserving,  whether  political 
friend  or  foe ;  frank  and  fearless  in  the  expression  of  his  opinions,  whether 
such  opinions  are  to  be  praised  or  execrated ;  of  indefatigable  industry,  and 
unpretending,  kindly  manners— this  is  Horace  Greeley.  'We  speak  the 
things  which  we  do  know ; '  for  we  have  been  acquainted  some  sixteen  years ; 
dur  printing-offices  connect,  and  we  meet  almost  every  day.  We  were  before 
Mr.  Greeley  in  the  literary  field  hereabout;  remembering  well  the  initial 
number  of  the  '  New-Yorker, '  his  first  venture. " 

In  reference  to  the  separation  of  Greeley  and  Eaymond,  Parton  wrote  in 
1854 :  "Greeley  is  not  a  born  journalist  .  .  .  Raymond  has  the  right  notion  of 
editing  a  daily  paper,  and  when  the  Tribune  lost  him  it  lost  more  than  it  had 
the  slightest  idea  of.  However,  Horace  Greeley  and  Henry  J.  Raymond, 
the  one  naturally  liberal,  the  other  naturally  conservative,  the  one  a  Univer- 
salist,  the  other  a  Presbyterian,— the  one  regarding  the  world  as  a  place  to  be 
made  better  by  living  in  it,  the  other  regarding  it  as  an  oyster  to  be  opened, 
and  bent  on  opening  it, — would  have  found  it  hard  to  work  together  on 
equal  terms."  This  view  of  Raymond's  character— that  he  was  ready  to 
sacrifice  principle  to  policy,  or  that  he  had  no  principles  to  interfere  with  his 
advocating  whatever  course  of  action  seemed  likely  to  pay  best — is  not  sup 
ported  by  anything  in  these  early  letters,  nor  by  his  apparent  motivs  in 
resigning  from  Webb's  paper  in  1851,  or  in  opposing  his  party  in  1867. 


New  York,  Apr.  19,  1841. 
Dear  Sir : 

It  affords  me  pleasure  to  comply  with  your  request,  relying  upon 
your  own  discretion  as  to  the  use  you  are  t5  make  of  the  catalogue.  My 
first  editorial  article  was  written  in  March  1811,  before  I  was  nineteen  years 
old,  [in]  the  Valley  of  the  Mohawk. 

In  the  book  line  I  wrote  for  the  Canal  Book,  published  by  the  Corpor 
ation  of  New  York,  in  1825,  a  history  of  the  Great  Pageant  of  October  1825, 


64  w:  L.  STONE. 

on  the  marriage  of  Lake  Erie  with  the  Ocean.  About  100  pages  quarto.  In 
1828  and  '29, 1  wrote  a  history  of  the  legislation  of  New  York,  and  on  the 
subject  of  the  Erie  and  Champlain  Canals,  together  with  a  historical  account 
of  Clinton's  removal  by  the  Van  Buren  party  from  the  Canal  Board.  About 
60  pages,  quarto,  published  in  Hosack's  Life  of  Clinton.  In  1832  I  wrote  a 
history  of  Freemasonry,  and  of  the  Great  Anti-Masonic  controversy,  in  a 
series  of  Letters  to  John  Quincy  Adams.  This  is  an  impartial  historical 
work,  and  was  written  at  the  suggestion  of  several  distinguished  gentlemen 
in  Philadelphia;  1  vol.  8  vo.  650  pages.  From  1829  to  1837  I  wrote  for 
several  of  the  Annuals,  English  and  American.  In  1834  I  published  two  vol 
umes,  entitled  "  Tales  and  Sketches,  Such  as  They  Are,"—"  The  Mysterious 
Bridal"  and  "Mercy  Disborough,"  [being]  of  pretty  good  length.  The 
stories  were  generally  historical  and  legendary.  In  1835 1  wrote  and  published 
the  work  entitled  "  Matthias  and  His  Impostures."  The  clergy  say  this  work 
has  done  more  to  put  down  fanaticism  than  any  other  in  the  language.  In 
1836  I  published  a  small  satirical  volume  entitled  "  Ups  and  Downs  in  the 
Life  of  a  Distinguished  Gentleman."  This,  although  literally  true  as  a 
biography,  was  intended  as  a  satire  upon  the  folly  of  parents  in  taking 
stupid  boys  from  the  plough  and  sending  them  to  college.  In  1838  I  pub 
lished  the  "  Life  of  Brant,  including  the  Border  Wars  of  the  Revolution," 
2  vols.,  8  vo.  Of  this  you  need  no  information.  In  March  1841 1  published  a 
history  of  Wyoming,  from  the  discovery  to  the  year  1800.  As  a  copy  of  this 
small  but  very  beautiful  volume  has  been  sent  to  you,  I  need  say  nothing 
further  concerning  it.  In  addition  to  these  I  published  further  several 
occasional  pamphlets.  Very  truly  yours, 

William  L.  Stone. 


Washington,  D.  C.,  April  23,  1841. 
Sir: 

Perceiving  by  the  March  Number  of  the  Knickerbocker,  that  you 
are  "  preparing  for  the  press  a  volume  of  poetry,  by  native  writers ;"  will 
you  allow  me  to  inquire  of  you  whether,  among  the  "  specimens  "  it  is  in 
tended  to  embrace,  you  have  or  purpose  to  have  any  from  "Escalala;  an 
American  Tale?" 

This  may  seem,  and  indeed  is,  not  only  an  awkward  but  an  odd  ques 
tion.  It  may  serve  to  explain  if  not  to  excuse  it,  however,  that  it  comes 
from  the  Author  of  the  Work  in  question :  which  was  written  by  me  in 
poverty  and  sickness  ( the  greater  part  of  it  when  in  jail  for  debt ),  and  pub- 


NKWSPAl'KRS  OF  THE  DAY.  65 

lished,  if  I  rightly  remember,  in  1824,  in  a  small  edition,  by  William  Williams, 
Utica,  N.  Y.  The  small  number  published,  in  that  inland  place,  coupled 
with  the  fact  that  on  its  appearance  it  was  "  damned  with  faint  praise  "  by 
the  North  American  Review,  may  have  prevented  it  from  ever  having  come 
under  your  notice,  or  perhaps,  from  having  ever  traveled  as  far  as  Phila 
delphia. 

Had  I  reason  to  suppose  that  the  Public  had  ever  condemned  the 
Work,  I  should  be  the  last  to  endeavor  to  rake  it  from  its  obscurity.  But 
the  truth  is,  "the  public"  do  not  and  never  did  know  anything  about  it. 
Faults,  as  a  whole,  it  doubtless  has;  the  greatest  of  which,  perhaps,  is  that 
it  is  occupied  with  a  story  and  a  subject  that  do  not  and  cannot  be  made  t5 
interest  them.  If ,  however,  I  can  trust  to  the  judgments  of  the  late  N.  H. 
Carter  and  Solomon  Southwick,  Esq.,  as  well  as  to  those  of  Gen.  Dearborn 
of  Boston  and  the  Hon.  Lewis  Cass,  it  contains  some  genuine  poetic  gems; 
such  as  would  do  no  discredit  either  to  the  humble  author  or  to  the  poetic 
talent  of  his  country.  .  . 

Samuel  B.  Beach. 


(  :  Tabor  Congdon,  writing,  in  1879,  of  the  periodicals  of  this  period, 
has  the  folloing: —  "There  were  two  of  the  large  weekly  newspapers 
published  in  New  York—  < The  [New]  World'  and  <  Brother  Jonathan '— 
and  both  of  them  were  well  edited  and  well  printed.  Their  general  literary 
make-up  was  excellent  .  .  .  There  must  have  been  either  bad  management  or 
some  fatal  discrepancy  between  the  cost  of  manufacture  and  the  price  ob 
tained,  for  these  big  sheets,  with  a  similar  one  printed  by  George  Roberts  in 
Boston,  disappeared."  It  is  singular  that  Mr.  Congdon  faild  to  remember 
the  '  New-Yorker. ' 

Times  and  Notion  Office,  Boston,  Apr.  23, 1841. 
Friend  Griswold : 

I  hasten  t5  answer  your  letter.  I  am  glad  that  you  have  at 
length  made  up  your  mind  to  come  with  me,  for  I  truly  believe  it  will  prove 
to  be  to  your  own  interest  as  well  as  mine.  I  shall  probably  find  some 
difficulty  in  freeing  myself  of  the  person  now  with  me,  but  I  will  give  him 
good  and  liberal  notice,  and  will  even  go  so  far  as  to  pay  him  something  if 
he  grumbles.  I  know  it  is  for  my  interest  to  make  the  change,  and  must 
therefore  do  it.  I  shall  expect  you  will  consider  it  a  permanent  berth,  for 
I  shall.  I  prefer  you  would  commence  on  Saturday,  May  8th,  as  about  that 


66  F:  w:  THOMAS. 

time  I  commence  work  on  the  Quadruple  Notion,  and  in  that  you  can  of 
course  render  me  a  great  deal  of  assistance.  Truly  Yours, 

Geo.  Roberts. 


[  Printed  by  permission  of  Mrs.  J.  T.  Fields.    'The  Smiths'  wer  Seba 
Smith  and  his  wife  E . .  Oaks  ( Prince )  Smith.  ] 

New  York,  6th  June,  1841. 
Dear  Fields : 

...  I  am  pleased  you  are  interested  for  the  poor  Smiths.  They 
are  very  deserving.  Their  residence  is  No.  65  Murray  St.  .  .  Charley 
Hoffman  has  a  nice  place  in  the  Custom  House.  I  am  sorry  it  is  only  tem 
porary.  E.  Sargent  is  at  Washington  office-seeking. 

H.  T.  Tuckerman. 


Washington  City,  June  8th,  1841. 
Dear  Sir : 

My  friend  Edgar  A.  Poe,  of  Graham's  Magazine,  Philadelphia, 
wrote  me  the  other  day  informing  me  that  you  were  about  publishing  a 
volume  of  American  poetry,  and  that  you  were  desirous  of  having  sketches 
biographical  of  Pinckuey  of  Baltimore  and  "Amelia "of  Kentucky.  He 
also  stated  to  me  that  he  had  replied  to  you  that  I  could  furnish  you  the 
sketches,  and  he  advised  me  to  write  to  you  on  the  subject. 

Pinckney  I  formerly  knew,  and  I  have  the  pleasure  of  knowing  per 
sonally  as  well  as  poetically  "  Amelia."  Having  been  a  Baltimorean  and 
being  lately  of  the  West  I  feel  a  natural  interest  in  the  fame  of  both  those 
individuals. 

It  would  give  me  pleasure  to  furnish  you  the  sketches,  as  my  friend 
Poe  writes  me  that  you  *'  pay  well  and  promptly."  A  thing  as  excellent  in  a 
man,  as  silence,  according  to  old  Lear,  is  excellent  in  a  woman.  If  you 
should  like  me  to  furnish  you  the  sketches  aforesaid  I  should  be  glad  to  hear 
from  you  in  the  premises. 

Prentice  of  Louisville  I  also  know,  and  "Moina"  (  Mrs.  Dinnies  )  of 
St.  Louis.  I  should  think  that  favorable  sketches  of  these  individuals  would 
tend  much  to  increase  the  sale  of  your  work  in  the  West — and  that  section 
of  country,  like  all  young  mothers,  feels  a  pride  in  her  first  born  in  literature 
as  well  as  in  other  matters.  If  you  publish  the  work  on  your  own  account 
I  could  perchance  furnish  you  with  some  information  with  regard  to  our 
Western  publishers  which  might  be  of  service  to  you.  I  know  the  editors 


F:  w:  THOMAS.  67 

"all  along  shore"  there,  and,  in  any  event,  for  the  sake  of  western  literature 
I  should  be  happy  to  advance  your  interests.    With  respect,  Yours  truly, 

F.  W.  Thomas. 

The  writer  of  the  foregoing  letter  seems  to  have  been  a  man  of  singular 
amiability.  In  a  letter  to  Poe,  dated  Washington,  3  August,  1841,  he  givs 
the  folloing  account  of  himself: — 

"  My  family,  by  the  father's  side,  were  among  the  early  settlers  of 
New  England.  Isaiah  Thomas,  the  founder  of  the  American  Antiquarian 
Society  at  Worcester  (  Mass. ),  and  the  author  of  "  The  History  of  Printing," 
was  my  father's  uncle.  .  .  My  Father.  E.  S.  Thomas,  .  .  .  emigrated  t5 
Charleston,  S.  C.,  where  he,  after  establishing  himself  in  the  book-business, 
met  my  mother,  who  was  then  on  a  visit  from  Baltimore,  of  which  city  she 
was  a  native.  Shortly  after  the  marriage  of  my  father  he  removed  from 
Charleston  to  Providence,  Rhode  Island,  where  I  was  born  in,  I  think,  the 
fall  of  1808.  [  Duyckinck  says  he  was  born  in  Baltimore,  and  Coggeshall 
that  he  was  a  nativ  of  Charleston.  ]  I  left  Rhode-Island  a  child  in  the  nurse's 
arms  and  have  never  been  back— so  I  hold  myself  to  be  a  Southerner— as  my 
parents  returned  to  Charleston  with  me.  (  My  family  consists  of  myself,  then 
Lewis,  Frances,  Susan,  Mary,  Martha,  Belle  and  Calvin. )  I  was  a  delicate 
child,  and,  at  the  age  of  four,  I  fell  from  a  furniture  box  on  which  I  was  play 
ing,  and  injured  my  left  leg.  I  went  into  the  house  crying,  as  a  child  would, 
and  soon  returned  to  play  again.  My  limb,  a  few  weeks  afterwards,  became 
very  painful,  my  health  gradually  declined,  and  the  physicians  advised  my  par 
ents  to  send  me  to  a  healthier  climate.  In  charge  of  my  aunt  I  was  sent  to 
Baltimore,  and  placed  under  the  care  of  my  aunt  Foulke.  There  I  grew 
robust  and  recovered  from  my  lameness  except  an  occasional  weakness  in 
my  limb,  when  I  over-exercised  myself  at  play.  When  about  eight  or  nine, 
in  running  to  the  window,  over  a  wet  floor,  to  look  at  the  soldiers  passing,  I 
got  a  fall,  which,  after  long  confinement  (a  year  or  more ),  threw  me,  a 
skeleton,  on  crutches.  I  used  them  until  five  years  since,  when  the  con 
trivance  I  now  use  was  suggested  to  me.  I  went  to  school  very  little  in 
consequence  of  my  lameness  and  frequent  indisposition,  and  when  I  was 
seventeen  I  commenced  the  study  of  the  law.  I  have  never  been  to  college. 
The  first  attempt  I  made  at  scribbling  was  at  this  time.  I  wrote  a  poetical 
satire  on  some  fops  about  town,  and  they  became  exasperated  with  the 
printer  of  the  paper,  I  forget  its  name— a  scurrilous  penny-sheet— and  tore 
his  office  to  pieces,  making  Pi  of  his  type.  I  attended  at  this  time  a  debating 


68  F:  w:  THOMAS. 

society,  which  had  a  great  many  visitors,  and  there  I  used  t5  hold  forth  with 
the  rest.  I  was  invited  one  Fourth  of  July  to  make  a  speech  before  the 
society  on  a  steamboat  excursion,  and,  getting  some  little  credit  for  it  I  was 
invited  by  my  political  friends  to  address  their  meetings  which  I  did,  being 
then  rated  with  Jacksonism.  .  .  Your  brother  and  I  were  then  intimate — and 
rather  rivals  in  a  love  affair.  Scott,  my  fellow  student  studied  hard,  —  I  often 
stole  out  to  the  Baltimore  Library  and  devoured  the  works  upon  Poetry, 
Oratory  and  Biography.  Just  after  I  was  admitted  to  practice,  my  father, 
who  had  lost  a  handsome  fortune,  emigrated  with  his  family,  leaving  myself, 
to  Cincinnati  and  established  "  The  Commercial  Advertiser."  I  practiced  a 
few  months,  and  then  from  ill  health,  retired  to  the  country,  where  after  a 
year's  sojourn  I  emigrated  to  Cincinnati  in  1832  and  assisted  my  father  in 
editing  his  paper.  We  soon  differed  upon  political  matters,  and  I  com 
menced  the  practice  of  the  law,  but  in  bad  health.  I  defended  a  great  many 
criminals,  I  believe  with  some  success,  and  lectured  before  the  Lyceum.  In 
descending  the  river  I  wrote  several  stanzas  expressive  of  my  feelings,  which 
I  published  in  my  father's  paper.  They  were  noticed  and  complimented  by 
the  contemporary  press,  and  I  wrote  out  some  farther  impressions  which  the 
new  scenes,  had  made  on  me,  and  upon  invitation  delivered  them  before  the 
Lyceum,  in  the  shape  of  a  rambling  poem  called  "  The  Emigrant,  or  Reflec 
tions  in  descending  the  Ohio."  This  took,  if  I  may  so  say,  before  the 
Lyceum  and  I  was  requested  to  publish  it,  which  I  did  in  1833.  .  . 

After  this,  when  Judge  McLean  was  brought  out  for  the  Presidency, 
I  was  selected  to  publish  his  organ  in  Cincinnati,  which  I  called  the  "  Intelli 
gencer."  I  had  it  for  about  six  months,  and  was  compelled  to  quit  the 
editorial  chair,  in  consequence  of  bad  health.  While  confined  to  my  house 
and  bed,  I  remarked  one  day  to  my  sister  Frances  that  I  felt  like  trying  t5 
write  a  novel.  She  insisted  upon  my  doing  it,  and  daily  brought  paper  and 
pen  to  my  bedside,  where  most  of  Clinton  Bradshaw  was  written.  I  should 
have  mentioned  that  my  best  friend  in  Cincinnati  was  Charles  Hammond  of 
the  Cincinnati  "  Gazette,"  wh5  is  now  dead,  but  who  was  esteemed  the  best 
editor  and  lawyer  in  Ohio.  To  him  I  dedicated  my  "Emigrant,"  and  he 
defended  me  with  true  chivalry  against  all  critical  attacks.  In  his  paper, 
too,  I  wrote  many  satires  upon  folks  about  town,  which  made  me  some 
enemies. 

When  I  had  finished  "  Clinton  Bradshaw,"  with  letters  of  introduction 
in  my  pocket  to  Mathew  Carey,  from  Mr.  Hammond  and  General  Harrison, 
I  started  for  Philadelphia  which  I  reached  in  the  dusk  of  the  evening. 


F:  w:  THOMAS.  69 

Unknown  and  unknowing,  in  bad  health  and  worse  spirits,  I  wandered  out 
not  knowing  what  to  do  with  myself,  and  shall  never  forget  stopping  before 
a  house  in  Chestnut  street  struck  with  a  tune  that  some  fair  one  was  playing, 
as  if  with  a  familiar  voice.  The  discovery  that  the  song  was  mine,  "  'Tis 
said  that  absence  conquers  love,"  changed  the  whole  current  of  my  feelings. 

Mr.  Carey,  (this  was  in  1835  ),  introduced  me  to  Carey,  Lea  &  Co.  and 
they  undertook  the  publication  of  my  work.  Let  me  say  that  Mr.  Carey 
treated  me  with  the  greatest  kindness.  He  was  lame  too,  but  a  philosopher, 
and  he  felt  and  expressed  a  real  sympathy  for  me.  I  was  frequently  his 
guest,  and  he  often  came  to  see  me.  In  proof  of  his  benevolent  character 
let  me  say  that  he  often  annoyed  me,  or  rather  provoked  my  sensitiveness, 
by  sending  some  lame  man  or  other  whom  he  had  picked  up  in  the  street,  to 
consult  with  me  upon  my  superior  powers  of  locomotion.  Most  of  the  char 
acters  in  Clinton  Bradshaw  were  drawn  from  persons  living  in  Baltimore. 
"Glassman"  was  meant  for  Charles  Mitchell,  a  very  distinguished  lawyer, 
who  was  dissipated.  "  Old  Nancy"  for  old  Nelly,  who  is  still  an  apple 
woman  in  Baltimore.  "  Cavendish  "  was  drawn  from  a  young,  eccentric 
friend  of  mine,  named  Kelley,  wh5  is  since  dead.  "  Shaffer"  was  a  portrait 
ure  of  Jennings,  etc. 

"East  and  West"  was  published  in  1836.  It  was  an  attempt  to  pour- 
tray  the  every  day  scenes  of  life  occurring  t5  a  fallen  family  emigrating  from 
the  east  to  the  west,  most  of  the  characters  there  were  from  life.  "  Howard 
Pinckney  "  was  published  in  1840.  I  have  by  me  in  MS.  the  poem  which  you 
have  seen  called — ( I  believe  I  will  so  call  it ) — "  The  Adventures  of  a  Poet " 
which  consists  of  1800  lines ;  and  two  volumes  of  sketches  of  such  persons  as 
Wirt,  John  Randolph,  Simon  Kenton,  (the  Last  of  the  Pioneers ),  with 
tales,  etc.  .  . 

In  the  May  number  of  "  The  Southern  Literary  Messenger, "  for  1838, 
you  will  find  a  sketch  of  your  humble  servant  written  by  Ingraham. 

While  writing  my  books  I  travelled  through  the  west  to  Louisville, 
St.  Louis,  &c.,  and  in  the  last  canvass  held  forth  in  those  places  on  the 
Harrison  side.  Sometimes  upon  invitation,  in  these  cities  and  in  Cincinnati, 
I  delivered  lectures  upon  literary  subjects  such  as  Oratory,  Poetry,  etc.,  Odd- 
Fellow  addresses,  and  Fourth  of  July  addresses.  I  was  a  delegate  to  the 
Baltimore  May  convention  in  '40,  where  I  held  forth,  and  after  which  I  made 
your  acquaintance  in  Philadelphia  and  got  pelted  by  the  people  as  you 
remember — or  rather  by  the  Locos. 

I  came  on  East  last  March  to  get  my  books  out,  but  the  death  of  Gen- 


70  v :  w :  THOMAS. 

eral  Harrison,  and  the  uncertainties  about  the  currency  and  the  bank  have 
prevented  my  publishing.  Here  I  was  invited  t5  lecture  before  different 
societies,  and  in  Alexandria,  and  did  so  to  full  houses,  gratis— which  were 
followed  by  empty  puffs ;  but  you  know  what  Goldsmith  says  about  the  Muse— 
"  Thou  source  of  all  my  bliss  and  all  my  woe 

That  found  me  poor  at  first  and  keeps  me  so. " 
(  Don't  say  of  me  that  I  am  in  office,  as  it  is  only  a  temporary  appointment. ) 

I  am  now  engaged  in  writing  a  novel  upon  the  events  of  the  present 
day,  many  of  the  scenes  of  which  are  Iai4  in  Washington.  My  object  is  to 
describe  life  in  the  varieties  in  which  I  have  seen  it  in  Missouri,  New  Orleans 
and  here  among  the  office  holders  and  seekers.  I  have  written  occasionally 
for  these  three  or  four  years  past  for  the  Knickerbocker,  Graham's,  the 
Ladies'  Companion  and  the  Southern  Literary  Messenger.  .  . 

One  of  the  first  persons  who  noticed  me  in  the  West  was  General 
Harrison,  who  shortly  after  my  arrival  in  Cincinnati  invited  me  to  the  Bend, 
where  I  went  and  was  his  guest  for  some  weeks, — I  was  engaged  there  in  one 
of  my  first  law  cases  against  his  eldest  son  ( now  dead  ),  William  Harrison. 

It  is  singular  that  my  great  uncle,  my  father,  my  brother  and  myself 
have  all  played  editor.  Yours, 

F.  W.  T. 

As  regards  Thomas'  later  career,  Mr.  W.  F.  Felch,  in  "  Literary  Life," 
May,  1884,  says  that  "  In  1850  he  returned  to  Cincinnati  and  entered  the  min 
istry  of  the  Methodist  Church ;  he  was  afterward  Professor  of  Rhetoric  and 
English  Literature  in  the  Alabama  University.  In  1860  he  took  charge  of  the 
literary  department  of  the  Richmond  (  Va.  )  Enquirer,  and  continued  in  that 
capacity  until  his  death."  Some  further  information  will  also  be  found  in 
this  volume. 


Bangor,  June  9,  1841. 
My  clear  Sir  [Roberts]  : 

...  I  fear  you  have  made  an  error  in  advertising  "  The  Fortunes 
etc."  as  originally  written  for  the  Notion.  Some  adverse  paper  may  recog 
nize  the  old  work  in  it,  and  charge  you  with  plagiarism,  or  me  with  fraud  in 
selling  you  an  old-story-in-part,  as  one  wholly  new.  It  might  be  better  t5 
say  "for  the  first  time  collected  and  revised,  with  several  new  chapters 
expressly  written  for  the  Notion !  "  ...  By  the  way,  if  you  care  to  have  a 
collection  of  my  poetical  works,  I  should  be  glad  to  compile  them  for  you 
gratis.  They  would  make,  I  think,  two  such  articles  as  you  published  of 


ALBERT  PIKE.  71 

Hoffman's.  Shall  you  publish  The  Fortunes  in  the  Semi-monthly  Magazine 
or  No?  If  you  d5, 1  will  correct  a  copy  and  return  it  to  you.  I  am,  Dear 
Sir,  Ever  Yours  most  truly, 

Henry  Wm.  Herbert. 


[Autobiographical  memorandum  by  Albert  Pike  sent  to  Griswold  for 
sketch  to  be  publishd  in  '  The  Poets  and  Poetry  of  America.'  ] 

Born  in  Boston,  Mass.,  Dec.  29, 1809 — father  removed  when  four  years 
old  to  Newburyport.  My  father  was  a  journeyman  shoemaker,  and  worked 
hard,  paid  his  taxes  and  gave  all  his  children  the  benefit  of  an  education. 
From  the  age  of  4  to  16  I  was  at  school, — partly  in  the  public  schools  at 
Newburyport  and  a  private  school  there,  and  last  at  Framingham.  About 
that  time  I  entered  (passing  a  fair  examination  )  at  Harvard.  I  do  not  now 
recollect  in  what  year.  Our  funds  being  scarce  I  became  the  assistant 
teacher  in  the  grammar-school  at  Newburyport  and  after  about  a  year  and 
half,  Principal,  which  I  held  some  three  months.  Then  traveled  to  Fair- 
haven,  where  taught  an  Academy  during  one  winter — then  on  foot  to 
Newburyport,  wh6re  I  opened  a  private  school  which  I  taught  for  a  year. 
During  this  time  I  had  kept  up  my  studies,  always  intending  to  have  entered 
[sic]  at  Harvard  in  advance.  In  March,  1831,  started  off  for  the  West— by 
stage  to  Niagara,  Cleveland  and  Cincinnati,  thence  by  steamboat  to  Nashville, 
on  foot  to  Columbia,  Tennessee;  thence  on  foot  to  Paducah,  wh£re  took 
steamboat  to  St.  Louis — and  thence  in  August,  started  to  Santa-Fe,  together 
with  two  young  men  from  Newburyport,  in  a  company  of  about  40  men. 
Reached  Santa-Fe,  Nov.  28, 1831,  half  starved  and  whole  frozen.  Remained 
there  till  September,  1832 — part  of  the  time  as  clerk  in  a  store— and  the 
residue  traveling  about  the  country,  selling  goods.  In  September,  left  Taos 
with  a  trapping  party,  traveled  S.  E.  round  the  head  of  Red  River  to  the 
head-waters  of  the  Brasos — Starved  for  food  and  water — and  at  last  on  the 
Brasos,  with  four  men,  left  the  company  and  came  on  to  Arkansas,  the  last 
500  miles  on  foot.  Reached  Fort  Smith  in  November,  without  a  rag  of 
clothes,  a  dollar  in  money,  nor  knowing  a  ferson  in  the  Territory.  Re 
mained  near  Fort  Smith,  part  of  the  time  teaching  a  school,  until  July  1833— 
then  went  still  lower  down  the  country  (my  school  having  netted  me  but 
14  dollars,  which  kept  me  in  debt  for  board  ),  and  opened  another  school  at 
three  dollars  a  quarter— half  money  and  half  pigs— Taught  it  six  weeks— for 
the  fever  and  ague,  and  three  dollars  in  money.  Having  in  the  meantime 
written  some  rhymes  for  the  Advocate,  printed  at  Little  Rock,  the  Editor 


72  C:  FENNO  HOFFMAN. 

sent  for  me  to  go  there  and  assist  in  editing.  Crossed  the  Arkansas  in 
October,  and  landed  at  Little  Rock,  paying  my  last  bit  for  the  passage  of  a 
soldier  who  was  a  Yankee  and  had  known  my  father.  Edited  the  Advocate 
until  October,  1834.  During  which  time  studied  law— married,  Nov.  13, 
1834,  and  purchased  the  Advocate.  Edited  it  and  practiced  law  at  the  same 
time  until  the  Summer  of  1836,  and  sold  it  out.  Since  then  have  been  prac 
tising  law. 

I  wrote  the  poetry  which  I  published  in  my  little  book  printed  by 
George  W.  Light,  partly  in  Santa-F6,  partly  in  the  mountains  and  prairie, 
and  partly  imntediately  on  my  arrival  in  Arkansas.  The  Hymns  t5  God,  as 
originally  published  in  Willis'  Magazine  in  Boston,  I  wrote  while  keeping 
school  at  Fairhaven,  in  the  schoolroom,  during  school  hours.  The  poetry 
published  in  the  Pearl  I  wrote  in  1833,  while  keeping  school— all  of  it.  '  To 
the  Mocking-bird '  I  wrote  a  day  or  two  after  my  marriage.  I  have  written 
nothing  since.  Nothing  of  any  importance,  I  mean.  Nor  do  I  think  I  ever 
shall.  If  I  should  even  collect  the  scattered  leaves,  and  publish  what  I  have 
written,  and  published,  it  will  be  solely  t5  get  it  together  so  that  I  can  have  it 
in  a  volume  for  my  own  pleasure. 


New  York,  June  19, 1841. 
My  Dear  Griswold  :— 

.  .  .  Our  friend  Hoffman  has  felt  as  nervous  as  the  Devil  ever 
since  you  toJd  him  that  that  precious  piece  of  "  biography"  was  to  go  into  a 
book.  He  is  anxious  that  you  should  cool  it  down  at  least  fifty  degrees  of 
Fahrenheit  before  you  print  it  there.  The  fact  is,  Hoffman  has  desired  me 
to  become  his  biographer  for  you  and  at  his  suggestion.  I  [  am  to  ]  say  that  he 
was  never  distinguished  for  anything  either  at  school  or  college  except  for 
swimming  further,  diving  deeper,  and  coming  up  dryer  than  his  comrades. 
To  be  sure  he  has  had  masters  for  every  accomplishment  under  God's 
Heaven,  but  he  never  mastered  one  except  that  in  which  a  duck  and  a 
spaniel  beat  him.  Would  it  not  be  well  therefore  to  eschew  all  sorts  of 
flourish  ?  Charley  says  his  father  was  four  times  as  distinguished  at  five  and 
twenty  as  he  shall  ever  be  with  all  our  kind  aid— yet  he  is  now  forgotten 
save  by  the  few  gray  beards  who  remember  him  as  the  friend  and  some 
times  the  rival  of  Hamilton.  It  seems  mockery  therefore  to  build  anything 
upon  this  thin  foundation  of  particulars  to  eke  out  your  pages.  I  can 
supply  you  as  well  as  H.  ( who  feels  sensitive,  rather  ridiculously  so  )  upon 
this  point.  He  has  no  European  associations  or  connections  to  stock  that 


CfFENNO  HOFFMAN.  73 

same  page  of  glory  as  our  friend  B.  has.  His  family,  though  German  in 
their  origin  (they  sprouted  from  Martin  Hoffman,  a  Lutheran  Clergyman 
wh5  immigrated  into  the  Province  of  the  Knickerbockers  about  1670  ) ,  soon 
lost  all  identity  with  the  Fatherland  by  intermarrying  at  first  with  the  Dutch 
and  subsequently  with  the  Huguenots  and  early  English  settlers.  He  him 
self,  though,  prides  himself  no  little  upon  having  New  England  blood  in  his 
veins,  his  maternal  Grandfather  being  John  Fenno  of  Boston,  the  original 
proprietor  and  editor  of  the  old  Federal  United  States  Gazette.  I  mention 
this  because  I  have  often  heard  Hoffman  say  that  he  felt  a  sort  of  pride  in 
being  an  American  through  and  through,— belonging  t5  the  soil  of  old,  and 
as  he  sprang  from  such  a  jumble  of  races  that  he  can  claim  an  origin 
nowhere  but  here. 

I  am  thus  particular  with  this  matter  because  I  know  that  our  friend 
dislikes  any  kind  of  flourish.  Will  you  allow  me  to  quote  from  a  brief  note 
I  received  from  him  in  answer  t5  a  request  that  I  might  prepare  for  you  a 
brief  biography  of  his  mind  and  character?  After  remarking  how  much  he 
felt  gratified  at  the  kind  notice  of  yourself  and  other  friends  he  adds :  "  But 
for  God's  sake  make  no  flourish— keep  the  aroma  of  puff  for  those  whose 
nostrils  it  regales.  I  am,"  he  continues,  "  unaffectedly  gratified  that  my 
scribblings  should  be  thought  worth  exhuming  and  reclaiming.  But  that 
pleasure,  I  tell  you  truly,  was  much  circumscribed  by  Mr.  Griswold's  ultra 
praise.  In  the  way  of  business  I  have  no  objection  to  a  book  of  mine  being 
puffed  until  the  publisher  is  content.  But  praise  of  one  man  is  a  different 
thing,  and  his  poetry,— the  tears  of  his  heart— the  blood  of  it,  sometimes,  is  a 
part  of  himself."  So  much  for  Greyslaer's  feelings— and  allow  me  t5  add 
that  all  this  may  seem  very  impertinent  on  his  part  toward  one  wh5  has  done 
so  kindly  for  him,  and  argues  most  probably  acute  self  love.  But  so  it  is. 
Hoffman  wants  your  notice  of  him  to  be  the  quietest  in  your  Book.  Will 
you  permit  me,  by  the  way,  to  select  for  it  a  single  piece  which  I  know  to  be 
a  pet  of  his — "Lines  on  the  Bob  o'  Linkum" — they  were  written  and  pub 
lished  before  Mr.  Irving  made  the  theme  a  popular  one,  and  of  course  those 
notes  have  lost  no  value  from  his  endorsement.  You  will  find  the  poem  in 
Goodrich's  4th  Class  Header. 

I  told  Hoftman  that  I  was  going  to  be  the  organ  of  his  feelings  and 
would  write  to  you  on  the  subject.  He  wishes  you  t5  omit  in  your  volume 
"  Raise  the  Heart "  and  "  The  Declaration  "—the  phraseology  of  those  above 
being  his,  the  thoughts  belong  to  others.  So  much  for  Hoffman's  matters, 
and  now  a  word  as  t5  my  own.  My  volume  is  very  nearly  completed,  and  I 


74  C  :   FENNO  HOFFMAN. 

shall  be  able  t5  publish  it  about  the  10th  of  August  ('41 ).  The  illustrations 
are  exceedingly  beautiful,  and  with  your  kind  aid  I  think  I  have  made  a 
clever  volume.  [This  refers  to  a  volume  of  the  Annual  type,  except  that  its 
contents  wer  not  original,  calld  '  The  Poets  of  America  Illustrated  by  one 
of  her  Painters. '  ]  .  .  . 

I  cannot  sufficiently  thank  you,  my  Dear  Sir,  for  the  pleasure  you  gave 
me  of  knowing  Mr.  Tuckerman— he  is  decidedly  the  cleverest  specimen  of 
the  New  England  Literati  that  I  have  met  with, — really  intellectual,  and 
with  all  right  modest.  We  Knickerbockers,  I  fear,  do  not  sufficiently  appre 
ciate  the  leaven  of  Eastern  scholarship.  (  God  bless  Benjamin,  the  Sargents 
and  "  all  that  ilk"  ).  Excuse  this  long  rigamarole  and  believe  me, 

Truly  and  gratefully  yours, 

John  Keese. 

At  the  time  of  Hoffman's  death,  in  1884,  G :  W :  Curtis 
wrote  of  him  with  the  kindly  grace  for  which  he  was  so  well 
known.  He  was  in  error,  however,  in  crediting  the  invention 
of  the  phrase  '  Knickerbocker  Literature  '  t6  J  :  R  :  Dennett, 
the  article  on  '  Schools  in  American  Literature '  in  "  The 
Church  Review "  for  October,  1850,  having  contaiml  the  fol- 
loing : — 

"  In  recognizing  another,  and,  in  some  respects,  antagonist,  school  as 
existing  in  New  York,  we  must  not  be  understood  as  supposing  that  th£re  is 
anything  answering  t5  the  compact,  mutual-assurance  confederacy,  which 
exists  at  Boston.  The  Knickerbockers— for  such  must  be  their  nickname, 
have  ...  no  common  focus.  .  .  When  we  mention  the  names  of  Irving, 
Paulding,  Cooper,  Verplanck,  Sands  and  Hoffman  we  think  we  strike  a 
chord  in  the  hearts  of  our  readers  which  vibrates  with  a  more  tender  feeling 
than  that  which  would  respond  to  our  mention  of  their  cleverest  Eastern 
contemporaries.  These  writers  have  .  .  .  been  industrious  without  parade  of 
effort,  scholarly  without  ostentation,  active  without  bustle,  and  efficient  with 
out  self-conceit;  and,  altSgether,  there  is  about  them  a  unity  of  manner, 
thought,  and  moral  principle,  and  even  a  negative  quality  of  style,  which 
constitute  them,  with  others,  a  literary  school."  Viewed  at  a  distance  of 
fifty  years,  however,  it  appears  that  moral  earnestness,  even  if  sometimes 
misdirected,  makes  for  fame  more  successfully  than  these  uegativ  virtues. 
But  to  come  back  to  Mr.  Curtis'  remarks  on  Hoffman :— 


C:   FENNO  HOFFMAN.  75 

"  The  Easy  Chair  has  more  than  once  alluded  16  Charles 
Feimo  Hoffman,  one  of  the  chief  figures  in  the  "  Knickerbocker 
literature  "  of  forty  years  ago,  and  the  founder  of  the  *  Knick 
erbocker  Magazine. '  The  felicitous  phrase  Knickerbocker 
literature  was  first  used  in  the  '  Nation  '  by  Mr.  Denny  [  sic  ] 
an  admirably  accomplished  writer,  wh6  gave  it  a  satirical  turn 
as  describing  a  kind  of  cockney  or  local  and  ephemeral  litera 
ture,  and  his  article  had  the  tone  of  the  Boston  sexton  wh6 
politely  informed  the  stranger  seeking  a  pew  in  the  church  for 
the  afternoon  service  that  it  was  hardly  worth  his  while  t6  go 
in — '  excellent  man,  sir,  but  no  talents  :  a  New  York  man,  sir.' 

But  while  many  of  the  noted  writers  in  the  Knickerbocker 
circle  of  half  a  century  since  are  no  longer  famous  nor  even 
much  known  to  the  New  York  readers  of  t6-day,  yet  the  great 
Knickerbocker  names  are  great  still,  and  Irving.  Cooper, 
Bryant,  and  perhaps  Halleck,  although  Halleck  is  fading,  still 
hold  the  place  they  held  with  our  fathers.  Willis  is  probably 
rapidly  passing  out  of  the  public  mind.  .  .  The  misfortune  of 
his  fate  was  tw6fold,  that  he  was  tempted  t6  turn  his  bright 
talent  into  ready  money,  and  that  he  did  it.  His  gayety  and 
his  graceful  fluency  made  him  the  first  of  our  proper  "  magazin- 
ists."  He  had  the  lightness  and  ease  of  touch  which  are 
traditionally  characteristic  of  the  distinctive  writer  for  the 
magazines,  and  whose  success  contradicts  the  old  saying  that 
easy  writing  is  hard  reading.  But  Willis's  ease  became  at  last 
a  mannerism,  and  a  certain  tone  of  affectation  and  apparent 
insincerity  crept  over  his  page.  .  . 

Hoffman  was  a  year  older  than  Willis,  and  he  belonged  t6 
the  same  Knickerbocker  group.  Willis  came  from  Boston,  but 
Hoffman  was  of  an  old  Knickerbocker  family.  Willis  had  a 


TO  C:   FENNO  HOFFMAN. 

certain  European  tone  and  character,  but  Hoffman  was  com 
pletely  American.  Willis  died  seventeen  years  ago,  when  he 
was  sixty  years  old.  Hoffman  died  the  other  day  at  the  insane 
retreat  in  Pennsylvania  where  he  had  been  secluded  for  more 
than  thirty  years — so  absolutely  secluded,  indeed,  that  Bart- 
lett's  book  of  '  Familiar  Quotations  '  records  him  as  dying  in 
1850.  Hoffman's  books,  like  Willis's,  are  read  no  more,  ajid 
his  name  survives  only  in  his  familiar  song,  "  Sparkling  and 
bright."  That  alone  will  give  his  name  yet  a  longer  date  than 
Willis's,  and  the  sad  story  of  his  life  will  be  long  tenderly  told 
in  our  American  literary  biography. 

Those  wh6  still  recall  his  manly  figure,  and  his  fresh,  breezy, 
gay  manner,  will  remember  the  sense  of  profuse  vitality  with 
which  he  impressed  those  who  saw  him.  He  was  a  lover  of 
the  woods  and  waters,  a  natural  sportsman,  and  this  taste  is 
reflected  in  his  tales  and  sketches.  His  poems,  as  is  always 
true  of  a  great  multitude  of  poems  in  every  period,  were  echoes 
of  the  greater  poets  of  his  time.  But  they  show  his  poetic 
feeling  and  facility,  and  a  certain  heartiness  of  nature  which 
was  his  characteristic  quality.  The  mental  calamity  which 
arrested  his  career,  and  practically  ended  his  life  nearly  forty 
years  ago,  was  not  the  only  sorrow  which  this  brave  and  gen 
erous  man  endured.  As  a  boy  of  eleven  a  sore  misfortune 
befell  him  in  the  loss  of  a  leg.  .  .  At  seventy-seven  the  poet 
walked  alone  in  the  rural  neighborhood  of  Harrisburg,  pleased 
t6  hear  the  sounds  and  to  see  the  sights  of  the  fields  and  the 
woods,  harmless  and  murmuring  t6  himself.  But  for  more  than 
thirty  years  he  had  had  no  actual  human  companionship.  The 
generation  t6  which  he  belonged  had  passed  away,  and  t6  the 
new  generation  his  name  was  unknown." 


W:   GILMORK  SIMM*.  77 

Charleston,  June  20,  1841. 
My  dear  Sir : 

.  .  .  Of  your  proposed  publication  I  have  received  some  intima 
tion.  .  .  The  selections  hitherto  made  from  my  verses  for  publications  of  this 
sort  (  Bryant's  included  ) ,  have  always  seemed  to  me  the  very  worst  I  have 
written ;  yet  when  you  ask  me  to  designate  the  best,  I  am  at  nonplus.  I 
must  leave  this  solely  to  your  own  taste  and  judgment.  I  dare  not  venture 
to  depend  on  my  own.  I  am  conscious,  too,  that  there  arc  very  few  of  my 
pieces  not  impaired  by  blots,  deficiencies,  [and]  crudities.  To  choose  those 
which  are  least  so  would  be  a  very  different  thing  from  choosing  the  best, 
and  1  should  be  divided  between  the  desire  to  appear  correct,  and  the  greater 
desire  t5  be  original  and  true.  My  verses  have  usually  been  overflowings 
rather  than  workings.  Like  all  overflowings  they  bear  in  their  passage  a 
great  deal  that  is  unseemly, — they  are  themselve.s  too  frequently  turbid.  I 
know  this  truly.  I  could  wish  that  the  public  taste  or  my  own  independence 
would  enable  me  to  direct,  guide  and  work  a  stream  within  proper  channels, 
which  now  does  nothing  but  overflow  its  banks.  But  the  wish  is  sufficiently 
idle,  as  your  own  estimate  of  the  public  taste  declares.  You  must  choose  the 
most  bold  among  my  verses  which  are  at  the  same  time  the  most  clear. 
These  perhaps  will  better  represent  my  mind  than  any  other.  The  list  of 
my  publications  will  tell  you  where  to  look  for  them.  .  .  My  first  publication 
was  a  volume  entitled  "'Lyrical  and  Other  Poems"  published  when  I  was 
about  18.  This  was  followed  a  year  after  by  another  called  "  Early  Lays,"  a 
third  called  4<  The  Vision  of  Cortez  and  Other  Poems : "  a  fourth,  written  in 
1830.  at  a  few  sittings,  or  rather,  goose-like,  standing  on  one  leg,  was  called 
"  The  Tri-Color,  or  Three  Days  of  Blood  in  Paris."  Of  these  volumes  little 
can  be  said.  They  were  the  performances  either  of  boyhood  or  of  extreme 
youth.  I  commenced  doggrelizing,  I  think  at  8  or  9,  began  to  accumulate 
my  doggrel  in  books  even  at  that  early  period,  and  at  15  was  printing  it  in 
newspapers  whenever  a  good-natured  Editor  could  be  found  to  give  me 
admission  in  what,  among  newspapers,  is  facetiously  called  *  The  Poets' 
Corner,'— a  corner  which  I  think  does  a  great  deal  of  mischief,  except  in  a 
purely  literary  Journal.  All  these  books,  the  last,  perhaps,  excepted,  were 
made  up  of  the  stuff  accumulating  from  the  earliest  beginnings  of  my  poeti 
cal  infancy.  T  need  not  say  t,5  you  that  they  contained  a  great  deal  of  very 
sorry  stuff.  Still,  I  fancy  that  they  had  something  in  them,  and  I  have  been 
amusing  myself,  in  later  days,  by  revising,  trimming  them  here  and  there, 
ami  stringing  them  tSgether,  by  the  batch,  in  Magazines,  under  the  appro 
priate  head  of  "  Early  Lays." 


78  W  :  GILMORE  SIMMS. 

Of  myself,  in  this  time,  the  history  is  no  pleasant  one  to  nie.  My 
mother  died  when  I  was  an  infant.  My  father  failed  as  a  merchant,  and 
emigrated  to  the  West  about  the  same  time,  leaving  me  with  an  aged 
grandmother,  and  a  small  maternal  property  which  the  latter  hoarded 
so  religiously  as  to  withhold  the  appropriations  necessary  to  my  educa 
tion.  In  consequence  of  this,  the  utmost  of  my  attainments  were  those 
of  a  grammar  school,  irregularly  attended,  for  I  was  so  frequently  sick 
in  boyhood  that  it  was  almost  the  conviction  with  all  that  I  could  not  be 
raised.  But  even  sickness  had  its  advantages.  I  got  books,  devoured  them — 
books  of  all  kinds  without  order  or  discrimination,  and  probably,  in  this 
way,  acquired  a  thousand  times  more  than  I  could  have  done  under  the 
ordinary  school  advantages.  I  grew  apace  in  some  things,  singularly  back 
ward  in  others,  studied  law  after  a  fashion  and  was  admitted  to  practice 
when  I  was  21,  the  very  day  in  fact.  Before  this  I  had  taken  to  edit  [ing] 
magazines,  and  soon  after  I  involved  myself  in  the  meshes  of  debt  by  the 
purchase  of  a  political  newspaper,  which  failed,  swallowing  up  my  little 
maternal  property  and  leaving  me  considerably  involved.  By  this  time  I 
had  lost  my  father  and  my  wife.  I  had  married  before  I  was  of  age.  In 
1832  1  visited  the  north  for  the  first  time.  I  had  previously  made  two 
journeys,  on  horseback,  to  the  South-west ;  traversing  some  very  wild  regions. 
At  the  North,  at  the  town  of  Hingham,  I  prepared  Atalantis  [5]  for  the  press. 
I  wrote  the  last  part  of  that  poem  at  Hingham.  The  first  portion  had  been 
written  several  years  before.  It  was  published  at  New  York  in  the  winter 
of  1832.  In  '33,  I  published  "  Martin  Faber  "  [8] ,  portions  of  which  had  been 
published  in  a  maga/ine  in  Charleston  some  8  years  before.  The  same  year 
I  published  u  The  Book  of  My  Lady."  In  the  summer  of  1834  I  published 
Guy  Rivers  [10] ,  the  first  volume  of  which  was  written  in  '32.  This  was  fol 
lowed  by  "  The  Yemassee"  [11] ,  "  The  Partisan"  [12] ,  "  Mellichampe"  [13] , 
"  Pelayo"  [14] ,  "  Carl  Werner"  [15] ,  "  Southern  Passages  and  Pictures"  [16] , 
" The  Damsel  of  Darien"  [17],  "TheKiowah"  and  "The  History  of  South 
Carolina"  [19] .  Besides  this  I  have  written  Tales  and  Reviews  without  num 
ber,  verses  ad  nauseam,  I  fear,  and  matters  of  one  sort  or  another  which  it 
almost  shocks  me  to  think  upon.  '  I  am  afraid  to  think  of  what  I've  done.' 
The  unclassed  and  inedited  materials  in  my  hands  now  would  make  a  matter 
of  20  vols.  more  in  print.  A  considerable  portion  of  this  is  in  print— a 
greater  still  in  ms.  You  have  a  specimen  in  the  Poem  of  "  Florida  "  [21]  sent 
you  the  other  day.  I  am  of  opinion  that  much  of  this  stuff  is  superior  t5 
anything  I  have  ever  published.  I  should  be  sorry  to  think  otherwise.  .  .  In 


W  :   (ilLMORK  SIMMS.  79 

the  ••  Book  of  My  Lady"  published  by  Key  and  Biddle  in  Phila.  you  will  find 
several  specimens  of  my  early  poetry  which  I  think  needs  revision  only  to  be 
as  good  as  anything  I  have  done.  Some  of  my  reviews  have  been  consid 
ered  fortunate.  Such  are  those  upon  Mrs.  Trollope  and  Miss  Martineau. 
"Atalantis"  I  have  entirely  rewritten. 

You  have  here  a  correct  list  of  my  labors,  so  far  as  1  am  at  present 
able  to  communicate  them.  I  will  not  conceal  from  you  the  fact  .  .  .  that 
I  have  been  engaged  in  other  toils  which  will  be  claimed  in  due 
season — labors  which  have  had  their  successes,  after  the  fashion  of  literary 
successes  in  our  country.  In  enumerating  these  numerous  performances, 
d5  not,  my  dear  Sir,  fancy  that  I  speak  of  them  with  any  feeling  of  "  boyish 
brag."  1  sincerely  wish  that  I  could  have  had  leisure  to  do  less,  of  a  differ 
ent  kind,  and  in  another  fashion.  You  '  have  the  un  licked  efforts  of  an 
uneducated  boy,  gradually  teaching  himself  by  exposing  his  ignorance  to 
his  neighbours.  I  should  be  sorry  if  I  could  not  add  my  conviction  that  I 
have  improved  and  that  [  am  still  improving.  At  least,  my  humility  is 
increasing,  and  that  is  sometimes  a  sign  of  wisdom  :  I  trust  not  a  delusive 
one  in  my  case.  .  .  My  habits  are  retiring — perhaps  quite  as  much  from 
active  self-esteem  as  humility.  I  am  again  a  married  man,  the  father  of 
three  children,  all  girls,  one  of  whom  is  now  at  school  in  Massachusetts... 
Do  not,  however,  suppose  me  insensible  to  the  sweet  solicitings  of  fame. 
It  has  been  the  dream  of  my  life,  the  unnamed  inspiration  of  my  boyhood — 
dearer  than  life,  for  which  I  take  cheerfully  to  toil,  and  toil  on,  though  I  see 
not  the  reward.  Let  me  add,  however,  that  Mr.  James  La wson  of  New 
York  may  assist  you  in  your  biography.  If  not  a  very  distinguished,  he 
is  a  very  worthy,  kind-hearted  and  honorable  gentleman. 

Thus  far,  in  answer  to  your  inquiries,  I  trust  I  have  answered  you 
with  sufficient  distinctness.  It  is  scarce  necessary,  but  I  may  add  that  I  am 
a  native  of  Charleston — my  father  came  from  Ireland  when  a  boy.  My 
mother's  family  came  from  Virginia.  They  were  all  (the  males)  actively 
engaged  on  the  Whig  side  in  the  Revolution — bore  arms  in  the  defence  of 
Charleston,  and  a  portion  of  them  tasted  the  sweets  of  the  British  Prison 
Ship.  My  father  was  a  volunteer  in  the  Creek  War  under  Jackson  in 
Coffee's  Brigade  of  mounted  men.  .  .  With  friendly  consideration, 
believe  me,  Your  faithful  and  obedient  Servant, 

W.  G.  Simms. 


80  W:  GILMORE  SIMMS. 

The  folloiug  letter  being  upon  same  subject,  it  is  inserted  here.  The 
numbers  in  brackets  indicate  respectivly,  1st,  the  order  of  Simms'  books  as 
here  mentiond,  2nd,  th£ir  order  in  the  previous  letter,  3d,  order  in  Prof. 
Trent's  bibliography. 

Woodlands,  Dec.,  1846. 
Dear  Sir : 

.  .  .  Though  exceedingly  busy,  and  subject  t5  frequent  interrup 
tions  of  care  and  business,  I  seize  a  moment  of  respite  though  not  of  ease, 
t5  respond  to  the  request  which  you  make.  .  .  I  commenced  writing  in 
rhyme  at  a  very  early  period.  At  eight  or  nine  years  of  age,  while  the  eventi 
were  in  progress,  I  rudely  versified  the  achievements  of  our  navy  in  the  last 
war  with  Great  Britain  [1  =  0  =  0].  At  fifteen  I  was  a  scribbler  for  the 
first  time  in  the  newspapers,  and  about  the  same  time  wrote  a  narratire 
poem  in  four  cantos  entitled  « The  Ring'— a  tale  of  Italy  [2  =  0  =  0].  Be 
fore  I  was  twenty-one  I  had  published  tw5  collections  of  miscellaneous 
verses  [3  =  1=2,  and  4  =  2  =  3]  and  had  written  portions  of  numerous 
things,  besides  ballads  and  epics  and  dramas,  some  of  which  I  have  subse 
quently  turned  to  account  in  print. 

I  had  discretion  enough  to  suppress  most  of  these  things  which  now  it 
would  be  scarcely  possible  for  even  such  an  industrious  collector  as  yourself 
t5  find.  Two  other  collections  [5  =  3  =  4,  and  6  =  4  =  5]  followed  between 
my  twenty-first  and  twenty-fourth  years,  prepared  and  published  while  I  was 
in  the  arduous  toils  of  a  newspaper  Editor.  These  were  in  a  more  ambitious 
vein,  but  are  also  beyond  your  reach,  and  almost  of  my  own.  In  1832,  I 
published  *  Atalantis  [7  =  5  =  6]  a  Story  of  the  Sea  '—a  poem  in  the 
dramatic  form.  This  production  received  the  favorable  notice  of  the  London 
'Metropolitan,'  then  under  the  control  of  the  poet  Campbell.  .  .  Among  the 
numerous  favorable  notices  of  this  poem  in  the  United  States,  it  may  be 
sufficient  t5  mention  that  of  the  New  England  Magazine.  .  .  Mr.  Flint,  then 
editing  the  '  Knickerbocker'  Magazine,  said  of  the  same  work, — '  It  is  a  clear 
and  well  got  up  Arabian  Night  affair,  a  real  sea-goblin  concern,  with  enough 
imagination  and  eloquence,  and  beautiful  figures,  and  splendid  conceptions, 
and  wild  paintings  of  such  stuff  as  dreams  are  made  of,  thrown  away  upon 
it  t5  have  woven  and  embellished  a  real  painting  of  life  and  living  things, 
etc. '  The  error  of  the  poem  was  in  the  dramatic  form,  and  in  the  redund 
ancy  of  the  descriptive  portions.  I  have  lately  revised  or  rewritten  it. 

While  I  am  in  for  the  poetry,  I  may  as  well  place  in  this  connection 
the  names  of  my  subsequent  publications  in  verse.  These  are :  a  volume 


W:   G1LMOKK   SIMMH.  81 

entitled  '  Southern  Passages  and  Pictures'  [8  =  16  =  7],  the  name  of  which 
will  probably  be  found  t5  describe  its  character.  This  was  succeeded  by  a 
poem  ( incomplete )  entitled  '  Donna  Florida'  [9  =  21  =  8]  which  has  been 
unjustly  assumed  t5  be  an  imitation  of  '  Don  Juan,'  and  which  is  not  distin 
guished  by  any  of  the  grossnesses  of  that  poem.  Four  Cantos  of  Donna 
Florida  left  the  work  still  incomplete— the  story,  with  the  exception  of  the 
last  Canto,  being  pretty  well  sunk  in  the  digressions.  Here,  if  you  please, 
you  might  quote,  as  a  sample,  the  opening  verses  of  the  4th  Canto,  in  which 
the  Muse  of  the  Nation  is  invoked,  and  the  country  personified.  So  also,  if 
you  think  proper,  might  be  given  from  the  same  Canto  the  conflict  between 
De  Lave,  a  Spanish  adventurer,  and  the  Chief  of  the  Jenundes.  At  all 
events,  you  may  say  of  the  poem  that  it  is  playful  and  mischievous,  and  the 
allusions  all  inoffensive. 

'  Grouped  Thoughts  and  Scattered  Fancies  '  [  10  =  0  =  9  ]  forms  the 
next  publication,  which  is  a  collection  of  sonnets.  This  volume  is  either 
imaginative,  moral,  or  contemplative,  or  all  mixed.  For  a  sample  or  tw5  of 
each  of  these  characteristics,  you  might  quote  '  Progress  in  Denial '  at  p.  42, 
*  First  Love,'  at  44,  and  «  Home  Service '  at  20.  T5  these  succeeded  '  Areytos, 
or  Songs  of  the  South'  [11=0  =  10].  The  object  of  these  poms  is  not 
simply  to  associate  the  sentiment  with  a  local  habitation  and  a  name,  but  t6 
invest  with  an  atmosphere  of  fancy  such  as  distinguish  the  passion  of  love 
in  days  of  chivalry,  the  ordinary  utterance  of  this  first  emotion  of  the  open 
ing  heart.  As  specimens  of  this  volume,  you  might  quote  the  song  at  15, 
that  on  19  and  20,  and  that  on  74.  These  will  all  be  found  to  embody  equally 
the  supposed  warmth  of  a  southern  temperament  with  the  refining  fancies 
which  are  assumed  to  have  distinguished  the  loves  of  a  Sidney  and  a 
Bayard. 

But  the  work  which,  in  my  literary  career,  succeeded  to  the  publication 
of  '  Atalantis '  was  '  Martin  Faber '  [  12  =  8  =  24  ]  a  gloomy  and  passionate 
tale  which,  assumed  by  certain  European  critics,  as  well  as  American,  t5 
have  been  provoked  by  the  British  tale  '  Miserrimus '  was  in  fact  expanded 
from  a  tale  which  I  published  ten  years  before  in  a  magazine  in  Charleston, 
and  which  contained  all  the  distinguishing  traits  and  scenes  of  the  subse 
quent  romance.  *  Martin  Faber '  belongs  t5  the  family  of  which  Godwin's 
'  Caleb  Williams '  is  the  best  known  model.  But  those  wh5  read  the  tw5 
works  will  fail  t5  see  any  imitation  on  the  part  of  the  American  author.  Of 
the  work,  the  New  York  American,  then  edited  by  C.  F.  Hoffman,  says  .  .  . 
All  admitted  the  power  and  interest  of  the  work,  but  some  cavilled  at  the 


82  W  :   GILMOKK   SIMMS. 

moral.  The  hero  charges  his  crimes  upon  fate — an  ordinary  habit  with  such 
persons,  and  this  is  charged  upon  the  author.  He  uses  crime  for  his  mate 
rial,  and  in  his  case,  as  a  young  American  beginner,  the  practice,  unavoid 
able  for  any  writer  of  fiction  that  ever  lived,  was  supposed  to  be  criminal. 
This  work  had  several  brethren  of  the  same  order,  which  followed  at  inter 
vals.  Among  them  may  be  mentioned  *  Castle  Dismal'  [18  =  0  =  39  J  a  tale 
which  has  been  supposed  to  be  particularly  original.  Confession,  or  the 
Blind  Heart  [U  =  0  =  36] .  Carl  Werner  [  15  =  15  =  31  ] ,  Wigwam  and 
Cabin  [16  =  0  =  42]. 

These  publications,  forming  in  all  some  ten  volumes,  were  marked 
chiefly  by  the  characteristics  of  passion  and  imagination — by  the  free  use,  in 
some  cases,  of  diablerie  and  all  the  machinery  of  superstition,  and  by  a 
prevailing  presence  of  vehement  individuality  of  tone  and  temper.  They 
constitute,  in  all  probability,  the  best  specimens  of  my  power  of  creating  and 
combining,  to  say  nothing  of  a  certain  intensifying  egotism,  which  marks  all 
my  writings  written  in  the  first  person.  There  are  yet  other  tales  belonging 
to  this  category,  and  perhaps  not  inferior  in  merit  to  any  of  these,  which 
have  appeared  in  annuals  and  magazines,  but  which  I  have  not  yet  collected 
in  book  form.  Of  one  of  these  stories  the  London  'Examiner'  spoke  in 
terms  of  the  highest  commendation.  .  . 

But,  anterior  to  the  publication  of  most  of  these,  and  soon  after  the 
publication  of  '  Martin  Faber,'  I  gave  my  first  novel  to  the  public.  This  was 
'Guy  Rivers'  [17  =  10  =  26].  It  was  meant  to  illustrate  the  border  and 
domestic  history  of  the  South.  The  first  volume  of  'Guy  Rivers'  was 
written  some  time  before  the  second,  and  the  style  betrays  the  labor  and 
anxiety  of  a  young  author,  highly  ambitious  of  his  tools,  but  as  yet  unprac 
tised  in  the  use  of  them.  The  difference  between  those  portions  of  the  work 
whe~re  he  forgets  himself  in  the  excitement  of  the  story  is  apparent  at  a 
glance.  The  work  was  highly  successful,  was  stereotyped,  and  soon  passed 
to  a  second,  third,  and  fourth  edition.  Of  this  work  the  critics  spoke  very 
indulgently.  At  the  time  of  its  appearance  Mr.  Cooper  had  sole  possession 
of  the  field.  Mr.  Paulding  had  not  confirmed  the  impression  made  by  his 
Dutchman's  Fireside  in  his  subsequent  novel  of  Westward  Ho.  Guy  Rivers 
rose  to  instant  favor.  It  was  republished  in  London  in  three  volumes.  Of 
the  thousand  notices  of  the  press,  mostly  favorable,  which  it  received,  I 
refer  you  t5  that  of  Mr.  Clark,  of  the  Knickerbocker.  This  gentleman,  wh5 
since  I  pronounced  him  a  liar  and  refused  to  know  him,  has  spared  no 
occasion  t5  lie  about  and  disparage  me,  spoke  of  Guy  Rivers  as  *  superior  in 


w:  GILMOKK  SIMMS.  83 

many  respects  to  the  general  work  of  Mr.  Cooper '...  Belonging  to  the 
same  family  with  Guy  Rivers  are  some  ten  or  a  dozen  volumes,  distinguished 
by  great  activity  of  plot,  vehement  and  passionate  personality,  and  pictures 
and  sketches  of  border  character  and  border  scenery,  in  which  I  claim  to  be 
equally  true  and  natural.  There  are  running  through  all  these  works  a 
strong  penchant  to  moral  and  mental  analysis,  such  as  led  Hoffman,  in  one  of 
his  notices,  to  suggest  that  I  would  do  well  to  devote  a  work  entirely  to  the 
business  of  working  out  my  metaphysical  v(Mn.  These  works  were  not 
published  consecutively. 

'Guy  Rivers'  made  some  enemies  for  me  in  New  England,  simply 
because  Jared  Buuce,  a  Yankee  Pedlar,  was  not  made  the  hero  of  the  novel, 
and  was  kept  simply  what  he  set  out  to  be,  a  Yankee  Pedlar.  In  this  humble 
character  he  is  yet  a  good  fellow,  humane,  intelligent,  and  steadfast,  and 
only,  like  all  pedlars,  cunning.  It  is  not  true,  as  you  have  thought  and 
taught  that  I  got  my  rogues  from  New  England.  Guy  Rivers  himself  is  a 
South  Carolinian,  and  he  is  the  monster  of  the  book.  By  the  way,  whole 
pages  of  Guy  Rivers  have  been  stolen  by  Seatsfield  [  As  to  this,  Mr.  A.  B. 
Faust  has  shown  that  Simms,  not  "  Seatsfield,"  was  the  thief.  See  page  47 
of  his  dissertation  on  Sealsfield,  published  in  1892.  Griswold  naturally 
assumed  the  correctness  of  Simms'  remark,  and  Prof.  Trent,  referring  to 
Griswold's  note,  says  his  statement  was  '  an  exaggeration.'  Commenting  on 
this  Mr.  Faust  says :  u  The  truth  is  that  Sealsfield  borrowed  neither  much 
nor  little,  he  borrowed  nothing.  This  is  proved  by  the  fact  that  Sealsfield's 
book  appeared  earlier  than  '  Guy  Rivers,'  "  viz.,  in  U.  S.  newspapers  in 
1827-28.  ]  and  have  been  quoted  abroad  as  superior  to  what  could  be  d5ne  by 
an  American,  even  describing  his  own  country.  My  Jared  Bunce  is  his 
Jared  Bendell — so  close  is  the  plagiarism.  Richard  Hurdis  [18  =  0  =  30] 
was  published  anonymously  and  instantly  went  to  a  second  edition.  Border 
Beagles  [19  =  0  =  34]  and  Beauchampe  [20  =  0  =  37]  were  also  published 
anonymously. 

But  these  works,  though  of  the  same  order,  did  not  follow  the  publica 
tion  of  Guy  Rivers.  That  work  was  succeeded  by  'The  Yemassee' 
[21  =  11  =27],  the  first  of  my  Historical  Romances.  The  sucgess  of  the 
Yemassee  was  even  more  decided  than  that  of  G.  R.  .  .  .  But  it  was  reserved 
for  the  Evening  Post  to  discover  what  seems  to  have  escaped  all  the  other 
critics,  that  the  entire  mythology  of  the  Yemassee,  which  they  took  for 
Gospel  History,  was  of  the  author's  pure  invention,  elevating  his  claims  to 
originality,  and  that  of  the  work  to  the  standard  of  pure  romance.  .  .  The 


84  W:   GILMORK   SIMMS. 

Yemassee  was  the  first  of  a  class  t5  which  belongs  three  other  works,  viz. — 
The  Damsel  of  Darien  [  22  =  17  =  33  ]  Pelayo  [23  =  14  =  32]  and  Count 
Julian  [24  =  0  =  41].  These  three  works  are  all  founded  on  Spanish 
stories,  though  the  scene  of  the  first  is  in  our  own  country,  and  the  events 
belong  t5  modern  times.  I  d5  not  think  that  the  D.  of  D.  ever  had  justice 
done  it,  though  it  received  high  praise  from  certain  quarters.  The  theme 
was  too  stately  for  the  taste  of  our  day,  which  at  that  time  ran  on  the  rough 
and  tumble.  Pelayo  and  Count  Julian,  though  full  of  scenes  and  passages  of 
which  I  should  never  be  ashamed,  are  yet,  in  design,  not  the  things  that  I 
would  make  them  now.  Their  history  is  given  in  the  preface  to  the  latter 
work.  These  did  not  follow  the  Yemassee  in  direct  order.  The  Partisan 
[25  =  12  =  28]  a  tale  of  the  Revolution,  succeeded  the  Yemassee,  a  book 
that  sold  better  and  was  better  liked  by  readers  than  by  critics.  Though 
distinguished  by  delineations  and  scenes  which  satisfy  me,  the  design  was 
feeble,  the  parts  clumsily  put  together.  Tn  truth  the  printing  of  the  work 
was  begun  before  the  first  fifty  pages  were  written.  Wherever  the  action 
was  in  progress,  the  story  told,  but  there  were  frequent  breaks  and  lapses 
which  spoiled  the  effect.  .  .  '  Mellichampe '  [  26  =  13  =  29  ]  was  a  continua 
tion  of  the  Partisan  and  succeeded  it.  It  was,  as  a  whole,  a  better  work  and 
better  written,  but  possibly  had  not  so  many  scenes  of  power.  '  The  Kins 
men,  or  the  Black  Riders  of  the  Congaree  '  [27  =  0  =  35  ]  belonging  to  the 
same  family,  followed  these  after  some  interval.  It  was,  as  a  story,  a  better 
work  than  either,  and  an  edition  ( I  think  )  of  2,000  or  2,500  copies  were  sold 
at  $2  retail,  when  Bulwer  or  James  were  retailing  at  25  cents. 

In  History  and  Biography  I  have  written  a  History  and  Geography  of 
South  Carolina  [27  =  19  =  60  and  28  =  0  =  61]  2  vols. ;  a  Life  of  Gen. 
Marion  [29  =  0  =  62]  and  one  of  John  Smith,  the  Founder  of  Virginia 
[  30  =  0  =  63  ] ,  the  last  not  yet  published  but  printed.  The  History  of  South 
Carolina,  though  limited  in  circulation  to  this  state,  has  already  in  five  years 
gone  t6  three  large  editions.  The  MS.  of  Marion  you  probably  know  as  well 
as  myself.  I  have  been  guilty  of  tw5  orations,  which  have  been  published — 
one  delivered  before  the  Erosophic  Society  of  the  University  of  Alabama, 
entitled  'The  Social  Principle,  the  True  Source  of  National  Permanence » 
[31  =  0  =  70]— the  other  before  the  citizens  of  Aiken,  entitled  *  The  Sources 
of  American  Independence'  [32  =  0  =  71].  As  a  writer  of  criticism,  I 
have  contributed  generously  t5  Periodicals  North  and  South,  reviewing  Mrs. 
Trollope  in  the  American  Quarterly,  Miss  Martineau  in  the  Messenger, 
Montgomery's  Messiah  in  the  Knickerbocker  (  under  Flint )  arid  Prescott's 


W:   GILMOKK   SIMMS.  85 

Mexico,  Home's  Spirit  of  the  Age,  Alston's  and  Mathews'  writings,  etc.,  in 
the  Southern  Review,  and  an  immense  variety  of  the  same  sort  of  writing  in 
the  Southern  Literary  Journal,  the  Magnolia,  Western  and  Southern  Re 
view,  etc.  Of  these  contributions,  the  Reviews  of  Mrs.  Trollope  and  Miss 
Martineau  have  been  republished  in  Pamphlet  form,  and  a  selection  devoted 
entirely  to  American  topics  has  been  made  in  two  volumes  for  Wiley  and 
Putnam's  Library.  I  have  now  gone  over  the  list  of  books  which  I  have 
published  and  which  1  care  to  acknowledge,  and  may  as  well  recapitulate. 

Of  the  novels  imaginative  you  have  a  large  collection  of  tales 
gome  of  which  made  an  entire  volume,  vix. :  1,  Martin  Faber:  2,  Castle 
Dismal;  3,  Carl  Werner,  etc. ;  4,  Wigwam  and  Cabin.  These  make  eight 
volumes.  Of  the  Border  Domestic  Novels  you  have :  Guy  Rivers,  Border 
Beagles,  Beauchampe,  etc.,  10  vols.  In  Historical  Romances  you  have:  1, 
The  Yemassee,2,  Damsel  of  Darien,3,Pelayo,  4,  Count  Julian ;  8  vols.  Of  the 
Revolutionary  Novels :  1,  The  Partisan,  2,  Mellichampe,  3,  The  Kinsmen, — 6. 
In  Biography  and  History  you  have:  The  Life  of  Marion,  Life  of  Smith, 
History  and  Geography  of  South  Carolina, — 4  vols.  In  Criticism  2  vols.  and 
in  Pamphlets  2.  In  Poetry  there  is:  Atalantis,  Southern  Passages,  Donna 
Florida,  Grouped  Thoughts,  Areytos. 

Talking  of  Poetry,  and  of  the  suppressed  volumes,  let  me  remark  that 
Jas.  G.  Brooks  ( Florio  )  reviewing  one  of  them  published  when  I  was  19, 
opens  thus — '  It  is  with  more  than  ordinary  pleasure  that  we  have  to  pass 
judgment  on  the  volume  before  us.  Mr.  Simms  is  entitled  to  take  his  place 
among  the  first  of  American  poets.  The  fire  of  true  genius  burns  in  his 
song,  and  its  light  is  pure,  warm  and  brilliant.  We  have  read  his  poetry 
with  unqualified  pleasure.  We  like  its  very  faults,  for  they  are  the  bold, 
generous  faults  of  high  genius  and  lofty  feelings.'  This  was  published  in  the 
New  York  Literary  Gazette  and  American  Athenaeum.  The  review  and 
extracts  occupied  several  pages.  Of  another  of  these  boyish  volumes  ["  The 
Vision  of  CorMs  " ;  33  =  3  =  4  ] ,  John  Neal  says  in  his  '  Yankee '— «  The  man 
who  could  write  this  poetry,  could,  if  he  would  wait  awhile  and  take  time 
for  it  do  so  much  better,  that  instead  of  speaking  highly  of  what  he  has  done, 
we  are  resolved  to  say  nothing  in  its  favor :  although  if  he  had  not  excited 
such  high  expectations  by  here  and  there  a  brief  passage,  a  line  or  two — a 
thought — or  a  simple  word,  mayhap  we  should  be  among  the  first  to  say — 
here  we  have  another  poet,  springing  up  in  the  busy  solitude  of  our  country, 
among  the  ten  thousand  other  neglected  flower-bearers  of  a  similar  root  and 
a  similar  growth,  born  to  perish — if  they  do  not  hold  back  their  strength  till 


86  W  :   GILMOKE   SIMMS. 

the  day  of  their  maturity.'  I  .send  you,  t5  close  fitly  this  long  detail,  a  sonnet 
which  was  published  anonymously,  but  which  is  supposed  to  be  by  Rev.  Mr. 
S.  Bulfinch,  on  the  appearance  of  '  Atalantis.' 

'  Simms !  thou  hast  woven  a  garland  tit  to  wreathe 

Thy  country's  brow  of  glory;  all  things  fair 

And  wonderful  are  blent  together  there — 

The  flower  of  Spring,— the  smooth-lipped  shell.    There  breathe 

Forth  from  their  mystic  twines  sweet  spirit  voices, 

And  in  the  spirit  are  they  heard.    The  heart 

Of  one  young  brother  of  the  lyre  rejoices 

In  thee  and  blesses  thee ;  for  thy  high  art 

Hath  wakened  thought,  and  made  the  feelings  dart 

Up  to  their  birthplace,  where  in  boundless  light 

Dwell  the  realities  of  our  visions  bright, 

And  where  thy  inspirations  have  a  part. 

Go  on  then  in  the  brightness  of  thy  mind, 

And  in  thy  country's  praise,  thy  crown  of  glory  find.' 
Of  another  suppressed  work  the  Knickerbocker,  conducted  by  Flint, 
writes  thus :  '  We  admire  the  spirit  in  which  the  book  is  written.  It  conies 
on  us  in  "  this  age  of  calculations''  like  a  sunbeam  from  the  days  of  Frois- 
sart.  We  like  the  chivalrous  gallantry,  the  romantic  devotion,  the  generous 
enthusiasm;  all  bespeak,  not  the  cold  respect  of  an  economizing,  calculating 
generation,  but  the  high,  and  to  us  congenial,  feeling  of  some  southern  and 
sunny  land,  where  hearts  beat  with  a  prouder  and  loftier  sympathy  than  in 
these  colder  climes.' 

This  summary  has  been  written  stampede  in  uuo,  and  I  have  neither 
the  taste  nor  leisure  to  run  my  eye  over  it  after  writing.  Excuse  faults,  and 
try  to  repair  deficiencies  as  you  read.  .  .  Meanwhile  hold  me  very  truly, 

Yours,  etc., 

W.  Gilmore  Simms. 


In  Prof.  Trent's  excellent  biography  of  Simms,  which  is  the 
best  of  the  many  works  on  Southern  literature,  may  be  found 
some  remarks  on  Griswold's  relations  t6  Southern  authors. 
This  compiler,  wh6,  the  professor  tells  us,  is  now  mentiond 
only  with  '  good-natured  contempt  or  positive  scorn,'  would 
seem  t6  have  been  an  especial  nuisance  to  writers  belo  Mason 


"THE   POETS   AND   POETRY  OF  AMERICA."  87 

and  Dixon's  line.  Simins  was  not  the  only  sufferer:  "Pink- 
ney,"  adds  Mr.  Trent,  "was  to  die  in  a  year,  and,  worse  fate, 
was  t6  fall  into  the  hands  of  ...  Griswold.  Virginia  could 
say  'much  the  same  thing  of  the  unfortunate  Richard  Dabney, 
but  he,  at  least,  escaped  Griswold."  As  Griswold  had  no 
power  t6  injure  authors  except  by  making  their  names  familiar 
t6  a  larger  number  of  persons,  or,  as  in  the  case  of  Cooke,  by 
getting  a  publisher  for  them,  it  argues  great  stupidity  on  their 
part  that  they  did  not  avoid  the  annoyance  to  thernselvs  and 
their  admirers  by  the  simple  course  of  refusing  his  requests  for 
information  and  declining  his  offers  of  professional  help. 

Singularly  enuf,  Poe  and  'Young  America,'  of  wh6m  more 
presently,  wer  alone  among  Griswold's  contemporaries  in  see 
ing  what  a  literary  humbug  he  was,  and  even  Poe  did  not 
perceive  it  till  after  Griswold  had  been  offerd  his  place  as 
editor  of  '  Graham's  Magazine.'  It  is  perhaps  not  so  strange, 
tho,  considering  that  even  in  our  time,  in  spite  of  the  clear  vision 
enjoyd  by  posterity,  there  ar  persons  unable  to  understand 
the  true  state  of  the  case.  One  of  these  persons  was  the  late 
H :  Morford,  whdse  opinion  was  quoted  on  page  36.  Another 
is  that  of  a  writer  in  the  '  Evening  Post'  of  8  July  1893  : — 

"  An  adjoining  shelf  holds  Rufus  Wilmot  Griswold's  familiar 
work  '  The  Poets  and  Poetry  of  America,'  which  Poe  bitterly 
assailed  in  the  satire  [  as  well  as  in  a  lecture  given  shortly  after 
its  publication],  and  concerning  which  he  says  in  a  note,  *  It 
is  in  the  invaluable  collection  of  Griswold  that  I  have  found 
the  plot  and  groundwork  of  the  tale'.  .  .  The  fact  seems  t6  be 
generally  forgotten  that  his  [Griswold's]  literary  labors  far  ex 
celled  in  volumnity,  research,  and  intrinsic  value  those  of  any 
other  American  writer  of  his  time.  No  man  did  more  than  he 


88  "THE  POETS  AND  POETRY  OF  AMERICA." 

to  present  the  claims  of  American  literature  to  the  attention  of 
the  American  people ;  and  he  made  many  a  thorny  path  of 
investigation  smooth  for  the  future  historian,  without  receiving 
any  other  reward  for  his  industry  than  the  praise  of  the  few 
wh6  shared  his  peculiar  enthusiasm,  and  the  satisfaction  of 
successful  research." 

The  metrical  satire  referred  to  had  the  same  title  as  Gris- 
wold's  book.  "  The  poem,"  continues  the  '  Post '  writer,  "  which 
is  signed  '  Lavante, '  is  written  in  heroic  couplets  and  comprises 
about  950  lines.  The  fact  of  Poe's  authorship  was  pretty  clearly 
shown  a  few  years  ago  by  an  enterprising  gentleman,  hiding 
himself  behind  the  nom  de  plume  of  "  Geoffrey  Quarles,"  who 
unearthed  the  original  Philadelphia  edition  in  some  out-of-the- 
way  place  and  carefully  edited  a  reprint." 

Similarly  perverse  ar  the  views  of  Messrs  R :  H  :  Stoddard 
and  T :  Dunn  English.  I  add  them,  as  literary  curiosities,  tho, 
aside  from  the  critical  incapacity  which  they  betray,  the  writers' 
evidence  would  be  thron  out  of  any  court  on  account  of  their 
well-known  incapacity  t6  appreciate  Poe's  moral  worth. 

Here  is  what  Mr.  Stoddard  had  to  say  as  late  as  13  Aug. 
1894  :  "  Among  all  the  early  friends  of  [  Griswold  ]  there  is  no 
one  wh6  .  .  .  remembers  him  with  more  kindness.  I  knew  him 
as  well  as  a  young  man  can  know  an  older  man,  and  only  knew 
him  as  a  kindly  gentleman  whose  delight  it  was  to  discover 
merit  where  he  could,  and  t6  serve  his  friends  to  the  utmost.  .  . 
I  cannot  but  cherish  the  memory  of  Rufus  Wilmot  Griswold. 
I  write  clumsily,  but  I  am  sure  you  will  understand  my  motive 
and  feeling."  The're  is  no  excuse  for  Mr.  Stoddard's  writing 
thus  in  1894,  for  he  had  been  told  by  'The  Critic'  in  1889, 
apropos  of  an  article  in  *  Lippincott's  Magazine, '  that  t6 
attempt  t6  defend  Griswold  was  "  love's  labor  lost." 


"THE  POKTS  AND  roi-vntY  OK  AMERICA."  89 

"The  charges  against  him  [  Griswold  ],  "  wrote  Mr.  English 
1  Oct.  1895,  "arose  from  the  disappointed  ambition  of  other 
parties ;  when  he  prepared  his  work  on  '  The  Poets  and  Poetry 
of  America,'  the  best  ever  seen  of  its  kind,  he  made  enemies 
not  only  of  those  wh6m  he  omitted,  but  of  those  he  did  admit 
wh6re  he  did  not  give  them  great  prominence  or  tickle  their 
vanity.  They  followed  him  not  only  to  the  day  of  his  death 
but  after  it,  and  slandered  him  most  abominably,  as  I  know.  .  . 
[Griswold  ]  .  .  .  had  a  great  reserve  whe~re  he  could  have  done 
much  mischief  without  passing  the  bounds  of  truth,  and  where 
he  could  do  a  service  for  another  he  always  rendered  it  freely." 
'  The  Critic,'  however,  knos  better  than  this :  so  late  as  20 
Feb.  1897,  it  [  "  J.  L.  G."  ]  casually  refers  t6  Griswold  as  a 
person  "who  made  himself  famous,  or  infamous,  by  his  criti 
cisms  of  Poe  and  other  poets." 

It  is  refreshing,  after  reading  such  silly  remarks  as  these,  t6 
turn  to  the  candid  and  judicial  commentary  of  Mr.  Edmund 
Gosse.  Mr.  Gosse,  being  an  Englishman,  writes  with  entire 
impartiality,  as  well  as  a  hi  degree  of  acumen.  His  restraind 
and  dignified  style  is  worthy  of  the  precision  of  his  views  :  for 
sweetness  and  light  where  can  be  found  a  passage  which 
exceeds  this?: — 

"  It  did  not  occur  to  our  innocent  mind,  that  the  world  could 
produce  an  insect  so  ingeniously  wicked  [as  Griswold]."  As 
t6  "  this  infamous  person  ...  we  leave  the  particulars  of  his 
life  to  those  painstaking  naturalists  that  make  the  hemiptera 
the  subject  of  their  special  study.  If  he  has  a  grave  may  the 
toad  pour  out  her  poison  the1  re  ;  if  he  lives,  may  he  live  long 
yet  t6  enjoy  the  execration  of  all  well-disposed  persons.  .  . 
Such  conduct  requires  a  motive.  The  bewildered  reader  asks 
why?  The  answer  is  that  the  biographer  was  also  a  maker  of 


90  "THE  POETS  AND  POETRY  OF  AMERICA." 

books,  of  very  trumpery  books,  that  Foe  was  a  trenchant  and 
fearless  reviewer,  and  that  he  had  occasion  to  show  Griswold 
up  as  an  impostor.  " 

This  theory,  started  by  Mr.  W  :  F.  Gill,  has  been  adopted 
by  Poe's  other  admirers,  Messrs  Didier  and  Ingram.  Yet 
these  writers  can  hardly  hav  overlookd  the  facts  mentiond  by 
Mr.  W  :  J.  Stillman  in  *  The  Nation  '  of  11  Apr.  1878  : 

"  As  if  finally  to  refute  his  own  theory  of  the  malice  of  the  previous 
biographer,  Mr.  Gill  prints  a  review  by  Poe  of  Grisvvold's  *  Poets  of  Amer 
ica'  ...  Now,  not  only  is  the  criticism  itself  in  the  very  worst  style  of  that 
crude  and  abusive  early  period  of  American  literature;  not  only  does  it  show 
us  Poe  as  introducing  puffs  of  himself,  over  and  over  again  .  .  .  but  it  specifi 
cally  refutes  the  precise  argument*  for  whose  sake  it  is  introduced.  This 
review  by  Poe  was  aimed  at  the  third  edition  of  Griswold's  tedious  book; 
whereas  anyone  who  will  refer  to  the  first  edition  will  find  that  the  author 
had  already  implied  there,  very  distinctly,  the  same  low  moral  estimate  of 
Poe  which  he  later  showed.  In  short,  it  was  Poe,  not  Griswold,  who  wrote 
under  a  grudge. " 

It  is  possible  that  the  views  of  Mr.  Trent  and  Mr.  Gosse 
upon  Griswold's  book  wer  not  based  on  independent  examina 
tion,  but  wer  merely  echoes  of  Poe's  opinion.  How  the  latter 
came  to  write  his  review,  and  his  animus  in  doing  it,  may  be 
read  elsewhere ;  and,  whatever  his  motiv,  his  opinion  of  the 
book  may  have  been  the  right  one.  But  it  is  well  t6  take  int6 
consideration  the  principle  on  which  his  reviews  wer  written, 
as  shon  in  Burton's  letter  t6  him  of  30  May  1839  :— 

I  am  sorry  that  you  thought  necessary  to  send  me  such  a  letter 
as  your  last.  .  .  I  cannot  agree  to  entertain  your  proposition,  either  injustice 
to  yourself  or  t5  my  own  interest.  The  worldly  experience  of  which  you 
speak  has  not  taught  me  [to]  conciliate  authors  of  whom  I  know  nothing 
and  from  whom  I  can  expect  nothing.  Such  a  supposition  is  but  a  poor 
comment  upon  my  honesty  of  opinion,  or  the  principles  of  expediency 
which  you  would  insinuate  as  actuating  my  conduct.  I  have  been  as  severely 
handled  in  the  world  as  you  can  possibly  have  been,  but  my  sufferings  have 


'•THE   POKTS    AND    POETRY   OF   AMERICA."  91 

not  tinged  my  mind  with  a  melancholy  hue,  nor  do  I  allow  my  views  of  my 
fellow  creatures  to  be  jaundiced  by  the  fog  of  my  own  creation.  .  .  You  must 
get  rid  of  your  avowed  ill-feelings  towards  your  brother  authors— you  see 
that  I  speak  plainly— indeed,  I  cannot  speak  otherwise.  Several  of  my 
friends,  hearing  of  our  connexion,  have  warned  me  of  your  uncalled-for 
severity  in  criticism. 

Mr.  J  :  H.  Ingram  saw  that  this  letter  threw  an  undesired 
light  on  his  hero's  literary  character,  and  suppressd  it.  When 
calld  t&  account  for  so  d6ing,  in  '  Temple  Bar '  for  August 
1883,  he  replied  in  'The  Academy'  that  "Griswold  inserted  a 
letter  the  authenticity  of  which  I  have  every  reason  to  doubt, 
and  which  I  did  not,  therefore,  republish."  Under  these  cir 
cumstances  it  is  fitting  t6  remark  that  the  above  quotations  hav 
been  made  from  the  autograph. 

That  Poe  experiencd  no  change  of  heart  in  this  matter  is 
clear  from  the  folloing  : — 

"  Poe,"  we  read  in  k  The  Literary  World  '  of  21  Sept.  1850, "  was, in  the 
very  centre  of  his  soul,  a  literary  attorney,  and  pleaded  according  to  his  fee. 
To  omit,  when  properly  invited  to  do  so,  to  retain  Poe,  by  an  advance  of  his 
peculium,  was  to  incur  his  everlasting  hostility ;  and  it  is  a  striking  illustra 
tion  of  this,  that  the  author  who  is  made  the  most  constant  occasion,  through 
out  these  six  hundred  pages  [  The  '  Literati '  volume  ] ,  of  malevolent  abuse 
and  misrepresentation,  is  one  who,  both  from  principle  and  necessity,  never 
allowed  himself  to  be  taxed  by  the  late  Poe  to  the  extent  of  a  dollar.  And 
yet  the  author  of  '  The  Literati'  was  not  without  a  gleam  of  consciousness  of 
the  peculiar  course  he  was  pursuing.  For  instance,  we  have  here  ...  a 
particularly  personal  and  impertinent  review  .  .  .  which  Poe  himself,  subse 
quently,  when  sober,  characterized,  in  a  letter  to  Mr.  Mathews  now  before 
us,—'  Could  I  imagine  that,  at  any  moment,  you  regarded  a  certain  impu 
dent  and  flippant  critique  as  more  than  a  matter  to  be  laughed  at,  I  would 
proffer  you  an  apology  on  the  spot.  Since  I  scribbled  the  article  in  question, 
you  yourself  have  given  me  fifty  good  reasons  for  being  ashamed  of  it.'  " 

Griswold  seems  t6  have  knon  what  wer  the  vulnerable  points 
of  his  book,  for  in  the  preface  to  the  edition  of  1855  he  has  the 
folloing : — 


92  "  THE   POETS  AND   POETRY   OF  AMERICA.  " 

"The  book  was  in  the  first  place  too  hastily  prepared.  The're  was 
difficulty  in  procuring  materials,  and  in  deciding,  where  so  many  had  some 
sort  of  claim  to  the  title,  whom  to  regard  as  Poets.  The're  had  been  publish 
ed  in  this  country  about  five  hundred  volumes  of  rhythmical  compositions  of 
various  kinds  and  degrees  of  merit,  nearly  all  of  which  I  read  with  more  or 
less  attention.  From  the  mass  I  chose  about  one-fifth,  as  containing  writings 
not  unworthy  of  notice  in  such  an  examination  of  this  part  of  our  literature 
as  I  proposed  to  make.  I  have  been  censured,  perhaps  justly,  for  the  wide 
range  of  my  selections.  But  I  did  not  consider  all  the  contents  of  the  vol 
ume  Poetry.  I  aimed  merely  to  show  what  had  been  accomplished  toward  a 
Poetical  Literature  by  our  writers  in  verse  before  the  close  of  the  first  half 
century  of  our  national  existence.  A\rith  much  of  the  first  order  of  excel 
lence,  more  was  accepted  that  was  comparatively  poor.  But  I  believe 
nothing  was  admitted  inferior  to  passages  in  the  most  celebrated  foreign 
works  of  like  character.  I  have  also  been  condemned  for  omissions.  But 
on  this  score  I  have  no  regrets.  I  can  think  of  no  name  not  included  in  the 
first  edition  which  I  would  now  admit  without  better  credentials  than  were 
before  me  when  that  edition  was  printed." 

A  continuation  of  the  work  was  prepared  by^Ii :  H :  Stoddard  in  1872. 
A  passage  in  his  preface  indicates  that  the  work,  even  at  that  date,  was  not 
•without  value  :— 

"  The  reasons  which  determined  this  .  .  .  intention  to  leave  Dr.  Gris- 
wold's  own  work  intact  were  submitted  to  some  of  the  editor's  literary 
friends,  who  acquiesed  in  their  justice.  'If  I  were  in  your  place,' was  the 
advice  one  gave, '  I  should  not  mix  my  work  and  Griswold's,  but  leave  the 
latter  precisely  as  he  left  it.  Every  reader  now  will  want  Griswold's  book 
(at  least  I  do  ),  with  his  biographies,  critical  remarks,  and  selections.  The 
latter  are  as  good  as  is  necessary;  giving  in  almost  all  cases,  the  author's  best 
and  most  characteristic  poems ;  while  his  criticisms  would  lose  their  histori 
cal  value  if  meddled  with.  T5  be  sure  he  got  into  a  good  deal  of  hot  water 
( the're,  by  the  way,  is  a  warning  to  you,  in  dealing  with  the  new  names,) 
but  all  that  has  passed  away.  No  one  can  complain  if  you  let  his  articles 
stand,  while  th^re  might  be  a  great  deal  of  complaint  if  you  meddle  with 
them. '  " 

New  York,  July  10, 1841. 
Rufe  Gris : 

...  I  am  poor  as  a  Church  mouse  and  not  half  so  saucy.    I  have 
had  losses  this  week,  and  am  very  perplexed  and  afflicted.    I  feel  limber  as 


HORACE  GREELEY.  93 

a  rag.    But  better  luck  must  come.    I  am  fishing  for  a  partner  in  The 
Tribune,  and  have  hopes  of  securing  one.    A  week  will  show. 

Raymond  has  gone  up  the  river  tonight,  on  his  way  to  Utica  to  report 
the  decision  in  the  McLeod  Case.  Meantime  I  am  on  double  duty,  and  shall 
hardly  have  time  to  wink,  let  alone  sleeping. 

.  .  .  About  my  account  with  Haughton's  estate.  It  will  be  perfectly 
easy  for  the  executors  by  turning  to  the  file  of  the  Atlas  for  1839  (  commenc 
ing  with  two  or  three  letters  from  Albany )  to  see  what  my  account  is  against 
the  concern.  I  was  to  have  $50  a  month  for  correspondence — Haughton's 
own  offer.  How  much  he  paid  me  will  easily  be  seen  by  turning  to  his 
Ledger  for  that  year.  I  kept  no  account — the  Atlas  is  my  ledger ;  I  only 
know  that  I  was  not  paid  into  about  one  month,  or  $50.  That  balance  I 
should  like,  either  with  or  without  interest;  but  if  I  don't  get  it,  I  shall  do 
without.  I  hope,  however,  the  Executors  will  at  least  do  me  the  favor  to 
look  into  the  matter,  and  adjudge  me  what  they  find  due  me. 

Gris,  I  hope  you  and  Demorest  will  find  it  convenient  and  think  it 
advisable  to  take  the  old  Yorker,  in  September.  I  know  I  could  do  as  well 
with  it  pecuniarily  in  another  shape;  but  I  feel  a  pride  in  the  old  paper,  and 
hate  to  see  it  go  down.  It  has  a  sort  of  reputation  and  character  on  which 
talent,  energy,  industry  and  business  tact  can  build  a  fortune,  I  hope.  .  . 

I  suppose  I  have  bored  you  enough  with  my  sorrows,  etc.  Luck  t5 
you,  boy,  and  may  you  find  a  faithful  guardian  one  day ;  if  you  belonged  to 
somebody  you  would  be  worth  a  whole  India  Rubber  Company.  The  mis 
fortune  of  being  born  free  has  ruined  you.  Yours,  tolerably, 

H.  Greeley. 

Richmond,  Va.,  July  17,  1841. 
R.  W.  Gris  wold,  Esq.,  My  dear  Friend,— 

I  wish  you  to  write  "  all  sorts"  of  an  article  for  the  Messenger — 
not  on  the  lawless  outrage  committed  on  Lud low's  property, — an  outrage  that 
would  justify  a  result  to  arms  on  our  part  to  recover  his  property,— but  I 
wish  you  to  pen  a  paper  for  me  on  Mount  Auburn,— tell  us  of  the  thoughts 
that  pass  in  your  mind,  as  you  tread  that  consecrated  spot.  Give  us  with  it, 
too,  your  own  reflections  on  Death.  Or,  if  you  do  not  fancy  a  subject  so 
rife  with  melancholy, — send  me  a  Sketch  of  Longfellow.  I  love  the  man, 
and  therefore  I  wish  my  friends  to  love  him  likewise. 

Or,  if  you  fancy  neither  of  these  subjects,  choose  one  for  yourself.  I 
care  not  what  you  write  on,  so  you  put  your  varied  power  into  full  requisi- 


94  JAMES  T  :   FIELDS. 

tion.    And,  mind,  I  do  not  ask  you  to  do  this  work  for  me  for  naught.    You 
shall  take  some  remuneration  for  the  labor. 

.  .  .  All  your  notices  will  grace  its  pages,  and  I  regret,  deeply  regret, 
that  you  had  not  sent  me  as  many  more.  God  Bless,  Prosper,  and  Protect 
you  from  all  danger,  is  the  prayer  of  Your  Friend, 

Th.  W.  White. 


;Portsinouth,  July  20,  1841. 
My  Dear  Griswold, 

Just  out  of  bed,  and  before  shaving  (think  of  that,  Master 
Brooke )  I  am  inditing  a  very  brief  epistle  to  each  of  my  particular  cronies 
on  Tri-Mountaiu. 

Imprimis,  I  send  you  for  insertion  in  the  Times  and  afterwards  in  the 
Notion  or  vice  versa,  a  copy  of  verses  which  were  enclosed  in  a  letter 
addressed  to  your  humble  servant  at  our  Portsmouth  Fair  last  week.  I  can 
just  guess  the  author,  but  dare  not  put  her  name  to  the  piece.  It  has  been 
shown  to  a  few  only  and  has  never  been  printed,  so  it  will  come  out  capitally 
in  your  paper,  which  by  the  bye,  is  the  only  solace  in  the  way  of  literature  I 
have  known  since  my  sojourn. 

I  would  write  you  a  long  letter  setting  forth  how  I  have  fished  in  the 
streams^  sailed  on  the  rivers,  rode  [sic]  on  the  beach,  kissed  the  girls  under 
the  hedges,  and  made  rhymes  for  commencement,  but  time  fails  me  and  the 
Engine,  like  "  Time  and  Tide,"  waits  for  no  man. 

That  I  have  enjoyed  every  moment  since  Wednesday  last,  a  clear  con 
science  and  a  sun-burnt  phiz  amply  will  testify.  .  .  Here  are  the  lines,  and  a 
benison  on  R.  W.  G.  Yours  very  truly, 

J.  T.  Ffields]. 

NewjYork,  July  26,  1841. 
Ruf  e  Gris : 

Why  in  thunder  did  you  go  off  on  Saturday  without  seeing  me 
or  seeing  Demorest?  I  anxiously  wished  something  to  be  resolved  on  about 
our  entangled  business,  but  never  a  syllable  did  I  get,  or  was  there  to  get. 
Why  didn't  you  think  of  it?  I  beg  you  t5  do  so  at  once.  If  Dem.  and  you 
don't  want  to  take  The  New-Yorker,  very  well ;  but  I  want  to  know  it  soon, 
so  that  I  may  look  out  in  other  quarters.  One  way  or  another,  I  must  dis 
pose  of  it,  and  that  speedily.  Write  me. 

Another  matter:  You  wrote  me  for  a  Kedge-Anchor  something,  and 
I  got  it  and  forwarded  it  promptly.  But  you  promised  me  a  copy  of 


INTERNATIONAL  COPYRIGHT.  95 

Parker's  Sermons  long  since  and  I  have  not  seen  the  shadow  of  it  yet.  What 
can  you  say  to  that?  No  matter :  This  you  must  do :  send  me  the  value  of 
my  Kedge- Anchor  (  price  $2 )  in  Parker's  Sermons,  and  do  it  right  off.  I 
want  them  for  distribution.  I  have  read  a  borrowed  copy,  and  I  like  it 
scandalously.  Now  don't  disappoint  me,  I  pray  you,  and  write  me  what 
you  think  about  the  New-Yorker. 

I  have  a  letter  this  morning  from  W.  H.  Burleigh,  with  a  good  Poem. 
Do  him  justice  in  your  medley ;  his  friends  don't  ask  any  favors.  He  tells 
me  his  book  sells, — which  I  marvel  at,  knowing  its  unmistakable  excellence. 

Let  me  know  anything  of  interest.  Yours,  etc., 

Horace  Greeley. 


Washington,  July  28,  1841. 
My  Dear  Sir : 

Yours  of  the  6th  I  duly  received.  It  will  give  me  great  pleasure 
to  furnish  you  the  biographies  you  mention  upon  the  terms  stated  (  for  my 
circumstances  will  not  suft'er  me  to  pursue^my  inclination  in  such  matters  ). 

...  I  have  a  poem  by  me  of  some  1800  lines  which  I  should  be  glad  to 
publish  in  Boston,  for  they  get  such  things  up  well  there,  and  there  is  a 
credit,  of  itself,  in  appearing  in  the  poetical  line  from  the  press  of  the 
"  literary  Emporium." 

Prentice,  Poe,  Ingraham  and  others  have  seen  the  poem  and  pronounce 
It  decidedly  the  best  thing  I  have  accomplished.  I  have  had  it  by  me  three 
years  awaiting  the  movement  of  the  waters  in  the  literary  world.  Have  you 
ever  thought  of  the  international  copyright  Law?  I  trust  in  God  that  after 
we  get  a  bank  and  a  bankruptcy]  bill,  that  this  law  will  not  be  forgotten. 
In  ev?ry  other  country  but  ours  literary  men  are  at  the  top  of  the  heap. 
Look  at  France:  Thiers,  Guizot,  etc., — see  England.  Here  we  are  the 
poorest  devils  under  the  eye  of  "God's  shadow,"  the  sun.  Hoping  that 
these  things  may  not  always  be,  I  sincerely  sympathize  with  you,  in  your 
ardent  desire  to  advance  the  interest  of  American  Literature.  Yours  truly, 

F.  W.  Thomas. 

Have  you  seen  "  Specimens  of  Western  Poetry?"  ["  Selections  from 
the  Poetical  Literature  of  the  West."  Cin'ti,  U.  P.  James,  264  pp.  ]  I  am 
told  the  work  is  edited  by  W.  D.  Gallagher,  who  has  put  Mr.  Gallagher's 
poems  first  and  longest!  This  may  be  Gallagher's  opinion  of  his  own  merits, 
but  Prentice  is  the  first  poet  of  the  West,  if  not  'Amelia.'  G.  is  behind 
either  of  them.  Don't  vou  think  so? 


GREELEY  AND  WHITE. 

New  York,  August  4,  1841. 
Rufe  (iris  wo  Id. 

Just  hear  me :  If  you  let  other  People  get  Extras  another  time 
and  I  none,  I'll  blow  you  up,  now  mind !  If  you  had  sent  me  200  off  the 
Atlas  yesterday,  they  would  have  been  worth  $10  to  me.  Now  don't  make 
any  excuses,  but  send  me  the  Extras  next  time  without  fail.  Send  me  as 
many  as  they  will  give  you  for  $10  from  the  Atlas  or  any  other  decent  paper, 
and  put  them  through  by  Harnden  or  Adams,  even  though  an  Express  has 
gone  on  before.  . . 

Now  about  the  Yorker ;  Demorest  has  given  up  all  idea  of  taking  it. 
I  suspected  he  would  do  so  from  the  first.  Such  an  undecided,  timid,  shilly 
shally  fellow  I  never  attempted  to  deal  with,  and  I  felt  relieved  when  he 
gave  up.  Now  if  you  can  find  any  capable  person  who  will  take  The  New 
Yorker  I  shall  be  glad ;  if  not,  I  don't  care.  I  shall  break  it  down  and  start 
a  weekly  Tribune  next  month.  .  . 

Nothing  new  here.  The  New  World  goes  about  like  a  rover,  and  The 
Tribune  is  doing  better.  I  have  great  hopes  of  it,  if  you  won't  continue  to 
murder  me  in  the  matter  of  Extras.  Do  you  hear?  Also  the  Parker's  ser-. 
mons.  I  understand  the  Jonathan  is  making  money. 

Raym.  is  away,  and  I  have  an  awful  sawney  to  help  me.  It  gives  me 
the  toothache  to  look  at  him,  let  alone  anything  farther.  He's  no  good. 

Yours, 

H.  Greeley. 


Richmond,  Va.,  Sept.  12, 1841. 
R.  W.  Griswold,  Esq.,  My  Friend,— 

The  notices  you  were  kind  enough  to  send  me  from  Philadelphia 
came  to  hand,  much  to  my  regret,  too  late  for  my  Sept.  No.  They  are  all  in 
type  and  will  be  in  the  October  number,  ( along  with  your  just  tribute  t5 
Goodrich ) ,  which  I  hope  to  have  in  as  early  at  any  rate  as  the  first  of  Octo 
ber.  The  last  form  will  go  to  press  next  Friday,  before  I  could  get  a  few 
more  fresh  notices  from  your  pen.  .  . 

Griswold,  I  have  seen  enough  of  you  to  make  me  Jove  you.  I  have  my 
eye  on  you,  and,  it  may  be,  if  you  and  I  live  a  year  or  two  longer,  that  I 
may  have  t5  call  on  you  for  help— help  that  I  shall  be  able  to  pay  you  for. 

In  haste,  Your  Friend, 

Th:  W.  White. 


JAMES  T!    FIELDS.  97 

Boston,  Sept.  15, 1841. 
My  Dear  Boy : 

This  is  Epistle  No.  3.  Think  of  that  and  weep,  oh,  Rufus! 
What  has  become  of  the  other  2  ?  Heaven  only  knows.  .  .  In  regard  to 
B[radbury]  and  S[oden],  poor  Soden,  I  fear,  is  on  his  death  bed.  His 
partner  told  me  this  morning  that  matters  had  been  arranged  before  his 
illness  and  you  was  to  be  co-editor  of  the  new  Mag.  [' The  Boston  Miscel 
lany  '  ]  at  $1250  per  annum.  But  as  affairs  stand  now,  I  cannot  tell  what  will 
be  done. 

The  poem  went  off  like  a  volcano:  more  anon.    I  am  to  repeat  it  at 
our  Lyceum,  7th  October  and  at  Salem,  the  same  week. 

I  send  with  this  a  package  from  Mr.  Norton.    Today  I  saw  Dana  at 
Brackett's  room.    B.  has  finished  a  fine  bust  of  him  and  also  of  Sprague. 

All  well  and  glad  to  hear  of  your  recovery.    Kiss  the  small  Edition  for 
Your  friend  and  fellow  sinner, 

J.  T.  F[ields]. 


Boston,  September  15th,  1841. 
Friend  Griswold : 

.  .  .  Roberts  has  engaged  [T :  P.  ?  J  Kettell,  I  believe,  who  com 
mences  today.  .  .  Of  how  much  advantage  will  it  be  t5  Roberts  to  change  his 
editors  so  often?  Yours,  etc., 

A.  G.  Tenny. 

New  Brighton,  22  September,  1841. 
Sir, 

I  ...  rejoice  that  before  your  work  goes  to  press  I  shall  be  able  to 
correct  some  errors.  "  Truth  and  Falsehood  "  is  not  mine,  and  I  know  not 
even  whose  it  is.  The  lines  in  answer  to  some  of  Willis'  are  my  brother 
John  W.  Wilde's.  Very  Resp'y,  Your  Obedient  Servant, 

R.  H.  Wilde. 


Washington,  Sept.  23, 1841. 
My  Dear  Sir : 

...  I  knew  [  E :  Coate  ]  Pinkney  slightly.  He  was  a  very  hand 
some  man,  punctilious  to  a  fault,  wayward,  and  Byrouic,  chivalrous  and 
enthusiastic.  .  .  I  have  always  thought  him  the  most  original  of  our  Poets.  .  . 


98  F:  w:  THOMAS. 

I  think  certainly  that  Flint  and  [  J.  H.  ]  Perkins  should  have  a  place  in  your 
book.  The  former  I  never  knew.  Perkins  I  know  very  well.  He  is  decid 
edly  a  man  of  original  genius.  He  has  written  often  and  powerfully  for  the 
North  American  and  other  periodicals,  and  is  the  author  of  many  sketches, 
which  have  much  of  the  point  of  Charles  Lamb  in  them.  They  are,  if  I  may 
BO  express  myself,  between  Lamb  and  Dickens,  without  imitating  either.  His 
poetry  is  not  equal,  at  all,  to  his  prose,  I  scarcely  have  a  poem  of  his  impress 
ed  upon  any  memory. 

With  regard  to  your  humble  servant — I  was  born  in  October  25, 1810, 
(I  think  it  was  October,  but  the  family  bible  is  in  the  far  west,  and  I  cannot 
compete  with  T.  Shandy,  Esq.,  who  tells  the  hour  he  was  begotten. — *'  Have 
you  wound  up  the  clock,  Mr.  Shandy?"  etc. )  [In  letter  of  3  Aug.,  Thomas 
wrote  that  he  was  born  in  1808;  the  figures  ar  distinct  in  both  letters.  ] 

...  By  the  bye— I  have  a  song  by  me,  which  has  been  set  to  music  by  a 
friend  of  mine  here.  The  tune  meets  the  approbation  of  several  of  the  fair 
( his  pupils  and  others,  for  he  is  a  teacher  of  music )  and  I  am  anxious  to 
have  it  published.  I  will  give  the  copyright  of  it  gratis  to  any  music  pub 
lisher  who  will  publish  it.  If  to  make  the  inquiry  in  the  matter  would  not 
give  you  trouble — may  I  ask  it  of  you?  The  song  is  of  four  verses,  four 
lines  in  a  verse.  If  instead  of  "  No  song  no  supper  "  in  these  troublous  times 
songs  cannot  even  be  given  away — will  you  learn  for  me  the  cost  of  printing 
it?  I  would  not  ask  you  to  make  the  inquiry  for  me,  were  there  a  music 
publisher  here,  but  there  is  not. 

By  the  bye  Kobert  Tyler,  one  of  the  President's  sons,  is  a  poet — did 
you  know  it?  I  do  not  say  it  because  of  his  situation  or  his  politics;  but  I 
say  it  because  I  have  seen  the  MS.  of  a  poem  which  he  is  now  writing,  and  I 
think,  sincerely,  he  is  a  man  of  fine  genius— and  will,  I  believe,  make  a  hit 
with  this  effort. 

Let  me  hear  from  you  soon.  All  that  concerns  literature  or  literary 
men  is  to  me  of  the  deepest  interest— particularly  that  and  those  of  "  mine 
own  countrie. "  Yours  truly, 

F.  W.  Thomas. 


Concord,  Sept.  25,  1841. 
Dear  Sir, 

Jones  Very  is  a  native  of  Salem,  the  son  of  a  sea-captain  who 
made  many  voyages  to  the  north  of  Europe,  in  two  of  which  he  was  accom- 


R.    W.   EMERSON.  99 

panied  by  his  son.  He  wrote  his  Essay  on  Hamlet  with  the  more  interest 
from  having  twice  seen  Elsineur  [sic].  After  his  father's  death,  he  pre 
pared  himself  for  college,  and  entered  Harvard  University  in  1832,  was 
graduated  in  1836,  and  was  appointed  Greek  Tutor  in  the  College  in  the 
same  year.  Whilst  he  held  this  office,  a  religious  enthusiasm  took  possession 
of  his  mind,  which  gradually  produced  so  great  a  change  in  him  that  his 
friends  withdrew  him  from  Cambridge  [  and  placed  him  for  a  short  time  in 
the  M'Lean  Asylum  at  Charlestown.  His  residence  there  produced  little  or 
no  alteration  and  ]  he  soon  after  went  to  Salem,  where  he  wrote  most  of  the 
poems  in  the  little  volume.  He  is  now  in  a  state  of  somewhat  firmer  health, 
I  believe,  but  rarely  writes  any  verses.  In  the  Dial,  No.  V.,  you  will  find  a 
brief  notice  of  his  Poems,  written  by  me,  to  which  I  know  not  that  I  can  add 
any  thing  excepting  the  few  dates  above  written. 

In  regard  to  my  own  verses,  I  have  printed  them  all  either  in  the 
"  Western  Messenger,"  in  the  same  Number  which  contained  the  Humble- 
Bee,  or  the  two  or  three  following  numbers,  where  they  appeared  with  my 
name,— or  in  the  Dial.  As  I  do  not  happen  to  have  in  the  house  a  copy  of 
either  of  these  Journals,  I  can  only  indicate  those  which  I  remember  in  the 
Dial.  Th'ey  are  "  The  Problem; "  Stanzas — "  O  fair  and  stately  maid,  whose 
eye  etc. ;  "  "  Suum  cuique ;  "  "  The  Snow-storm ;  "  "  The  Sphinx ;  "  "Wood- 
notes  No.  I ;  "  and  "  Wood  Notes  No.  II "  which  appears  in  the  forthcoming 
number  for  October,  with  a  little  piece  called  "  Fate,"  and  another  "  Paint 
ing  and  Sculpture."  There  may  be  more  than  these  few,  but  I  do  not 
remember  them.  In  answer  to  your  request  for  dates  of  birth  and  educa 
tion,  I  reply,  I  was  born  in  Boston  in  1803,  and  was  graduated  at  Cambridge 
in  1821. 

Will  you  allow  me  to  call  your  attention  to  the  few  pieces  in  the  Dial 
signed  H.  D.  T.  (  or,  by  mistake,  D.  H.  T.  )  which  were  written  by  Henry  D.  \ 
Thoreau,  of  this  town,  a  graduate  of  Cambridge  in  the  year  1837.    Unless  I 
am  greatly  mistaken,  Mr.  Thoreau  already  deserves  and  will  .more  and  more 
deserve  your  attention  as  a  writer  of  American  Poetry. 

I  hope  these  few  facts  may  suffice  as  a  reply  to  your  inquiry.  In  re 
gard  to  Mr.  Very  I  draw  bracketts  over  the  lines  which  I  think  ought  not  now 
to  be  published.  With  good  wishes  for  your  success  in  your  enterprise,  I  am 

Yours  respectfully, 

R.  W.  Emerson. 


100  THE  SOUTHERN  LITERARY  MESSENGER. 

New  York,  Oct.  19, 1841. 
My  dear  Sir  [  Graham  ]  : 

.  .  .  Would  you  like  to  have  an  occasional  poem  from  Professor 
Longfellow?  I  think  I  could  get  him  to  write  for  you  at  $20.  He  asks  $25. 
I  thank  Mr.  Poe  heartily  for  his  just  notice— just  as  regards  censure. 

Yours  faithfully, 

Park  Benjamin. 

We  read  in  Godwin's  life  that  Bryant,  when  asked  to  put  a  price  upon 
the  poems  he  contributed  to  the  U.  S.  Gazette  in  1823-25,  suggested  $2.  each. 
This  rate  was  raised  by  the  publisher  to  16  cents  per  line. 

Richmond,  Va.,  Oct.  20, 1841. 
Rufus  W.  Griswold,  Esq.,     My  Dear  Friend,— 

"  'Tis  true — and  pity 'tis,  'tis  true," — that  I  am  confoundedly 
hard  pressed  still.  For  eight  long  years,  have  I  been  toiling  for  naught. 
All  my  energies,  all  my  industry,  all  my  tact,  all  my  funds, — all — all,  have 
been  given  to  this  pet  [the  Messenger]  of  mine.  And  for  what?  Fora 
little  Fame — for  having  it  said  that  I  had  achieved  what  no  one  else  could 
accomplish  in  our  Southern  States.  Well,  I  have  succeeded  at  last,  I  believe, 
in  placing  my  publication  on  a  solid  foundation— on  a  foundation  that  will 
last,  at  least,  as  long  as  I  shall  last.  Next  year  I  mean  to  go  for  making 
money,  and  make  it  I  will,  if  application  can  accomplish  so  desirable  a 
desideratum.  [  He  died  19  January  1843.  ] 

Thank  you  for  your  occasional  help.  Your  notices  of  publications, 
pithy  as  they  are,  give  information  that  is  desirable  and  much  needed.  All 
that  you  have  sent  me  I  have  used.  .  . 

If  I  had  not  become  so  accustomed  to  disappointments,  you  would 
have  caused  my  "  mouth  to  water  "  for  the  delicious  food  you  have  promised 
me,  for  my  next.  If  it  comes,  I  shall  roll  it  "  under  my  tongue  "  as  a  most 
precious  morsel. 

Presuming  you  will  have  no  objection  to  a  little  help,  I  send  you  a 
check  for  $6.25,  and  my  note  for  $14.75.  Take  the  trouble,  if  you  please,  to 
call  on  the  Harpers.  I  will  ask  them  to  cash  it  for  you.  It  will,  I  hope,  be 
worth  to  you  in  it's  full  face,  $13.75,  which  will  make  $20, 1  will  have  sent 
you.  ( Mind  the  Harpers  do  not  owe  me  a  dollar  on  earth,  nor  have  I  any 
claims  on  them.  Still  they  are  my  friends,  and  therefore  it  is  that  I  think 
they  will  accommodate  you  and  m« ).  In  great  haste,  Your  Friend, 

Tb :  W.  White. 


MRS.   8IGOUKNEY.  101 

Richmond,  Va.,  Oct.  29, 1841. 
Kufus  W.  (Jris wold,  Esq.,  My  Dear  Friend, — 

.  .  .  Let  me  get  the  favor  of  you  to  read  "  The  Hunchback,"  so 
far  as  it  goes — and  to  give  your  opinion  of  it,  freely  and  candidly.  It  strikes 
me  as  being  very  fine — very  far  superior  to  any  novel-writing  that  has  issued 
from  the  American  press  for  the  20  past  years.  I  have  here  an  able  co- 
laborer  Heath  [?J  ...  Your  Friend, 

Th :  W.  White. 
Griswold  had  become  one  of  the  editors  of  the  Philadelphia  '  Gazette. ' 


Near  the  Sources  of  Salt  River,  New  York,  Nov.  5, 1841. 
Friend  Gris : 

I  haven't  done  anything  I  promised  you— and  why  ?  Because  I 
couldn't.  I  went  to  see  Mr.  Root  on  Tuesday,  but  could  find  nothing  out. 
Root  did  not  know  her  [Mrs.  Sigourney]  till  she  lived  in  Hartford.  Sol 
have  no  data;  and  where  can  J  get  any?  I  don't  know,  I'm  sure.  So  I  do 
nothing,  and  wait  to  hear  from  you. 

Raymond  is  still  down  on  his  luck;  I  fear  he  will  never  be  well.  "We 
apprehend  he  has  Bronchitis  tending  to  Consumption. 

Aren't  we  horribly  smashed  up  in  this  State?  We  haven't  a  grease- 
spot  left — Assembly,  Senate,  Canal-Board,  Appointments,  all — '  All  gone, 
and  forgot  the  light  we  saw  breaking.'  Yours,  with  a  broken  back  and  a 
heavy  heart,  4 

Horace  Greeley. 
[10  Nov.,  1841.  ?] 
My  dear  Gris : — 

I  return  herewith  Brainard  with  a  sketch  of  his  life  comprising 
what  I  wished  to  say  of  him  though  ofttimes  not  expressed  as  I  wrould  have 
it.  You  must  look  it  over,  reconcile  any  inconsistences  and  correct  any 
errors,  either  in  thought  or  style,  which  you  may  discover.  The  opinions 
expressed  are  such  as  I  really  entertain,  tho'  if  they  don't  suit  your  notions 
or  your  purposes,  of  course  you  must  change  them  till  they  do  so.  I'm 
getting  well  fast  and  shall  soon  be  able  to  take  my  seat  in  the  office  again.  I 
shall  leave  this  with  Greeley  and  it  will  go  to  Philadelphia  sometime  tho'  I 
know  not  when.  I  trust  it  will  not  be  too  late.  Do  you  wish  me  to  do  any 
thing  for  the  Southern  Literary  Messenger?  If  so  what?  I  can  do  it  now 
at  any  time.  Yours  faithfully, 

H.  J.  Raymond. 


102  MRS.   SIGOURNEY. 

New  York,  Nov.  13,  1841. 
Dear  Gris : 

Your  note  and  book  received.  Having  got  the  right  sort  of  a 
letter  from  Burleigh,  I  have  set  right  down  and  written  you  an  upset  of  it, 
so  as  to  be  sure  of  it.  I  know  this  is  not  the  thing  you  want,  it  is  too  diffuse 
and  flowing ;  but  I  think  you  need  only  strike  out  a  portion  here  and  there, 
and  change  a  few  words  to  make  all  right.  I  can't  tell  just  what  will  be  your 
fashion  of  treating  living  writers,  so  I  put  in  all,  and  leave  you  to  cut  out  at 
your  discretion.  How  could  I  do  better?  I  shall  try  to  plaster  over  Mrs. 
Sigourney  tomorrow;  but  you  know  how  bad  a  job  it  is.  As  it  won't  do  t5 
say  a  word  of  her  real  history,  how  will  it  be  possible  to  say  any  think?  .  .  . 

Yours, 

H.  Greeley. 


New  York,  Nov.  17,  1841. 
R.  W.  Gris  wold,  Esq.,  My  Friend  : 

Have  you  got  my  Biography  of  Burleigh?    It  is  too   long  and 
precise,  but  you  can  cut  it  down,  I  think,  with  little  trouble. 

I  have  just  done  up  Mrs.  Sigourney  by  neglecting  my  own  business 
entirely.  .  .  This  isn't  a  good  biography;  I've  lost  the  list  of  her  works,  but 
that  is  no  loss  at  all.  The  biography  is  less  humdrum  without  it.  You  can 
carve  and  plaster  to  suit  your  taste. 

Raymond  is  getting  up,  but  good  for  nothing  yet.  I  have  Mrs.  Ellet 
t5  write  for  you — that  is  all,  I  believe.  I  will  try  to  do  that  sometime  soon, 
and  have  it  off  my  mind. 

Now  write  me  a  few  racy,  spicy — not  personal,  far  less  malignant 
[letters]  depicting  Society  and  Life  in  Philadelphia.  «SToo?i,mind.  Where's 
Eldredge? 

Gris,  don't  have  it  known  that  you  are  connected  with  the  Philadel 
phia  Gazette.  It  will  kill  you.  I  never  knew  such  a  Thersites.  You  could 
not  have  written  that  attack  on  Rob.  Walsh,  certainly.  Write  me. 

[H.  Greeley.] 


Boston.  18  Nov.,  1841. 
My  Dear  Sir : 

Some  time  since  you  and  I  had  a  conversation  upon  the  subject 
of  the  Editorship  of  the  Boston  Transcript,  at  which  time  you  expressed 
yourself  in  favor  of  some  arrangement  with  this  Paper.  I  should  be  happy 
t5  hear  from  you  upon  the  subject  and  learn  your  views  in  relation  to  an 


BOSTON   AFFAIRS.  103 


arrangement,—  such  particulars,  I  mean,  as  to  enable  me  to  juuge  of  the  terms 
on  which  an  arrangement  with  you  could  be  effected.  .  .      Yours  truly, 

James  A.  G.  Otis. 


New  York,  Nov.  23,  1841.  * 
Dear  Gris  : 

Keep  up  heart  and  hope.  I  trust  you  are  not  so  ill  as  you  think, 
though  you  are  bent  on  killing  yourself  with  calomel  and  carelessness  ere 
long.  But  you  must  not  go  until  your  great  work  is  out  :  after  that  you  can 
afford  to  die.  If  you  are  taken  dangerously  ill  —  I  mean  in  danger  of  not 
being  able  to  oversee  it  —  be  sure  you  leave  it  in  good  hands.  .  . 

We  are  d5iug  middling  well  —  not  more.  Be  careful  of  what  life  is  left 
in  you,  and  turn  Grahamite.  Yours, 

H.  Greeley. 

Boston,  Dec.  12,1841. 
My  dear  Kufus  : 

...  In  regard  to  the  ages  of  those  individual  poets,  not  one  will 
tell  in  what  year  he  saw  the  light,  so  you  will  be  obliged  to  say  nothing  on 
that  head.  .  . 

Dana  was  in  a  few  days  since  and  asked  for  you,  was  very  sorry  t5 
hear  you  had  been  ill.  Longfellow  has  been  out  of  health  but  is  now,  I 
believe,  recovered.  He  always  inquires  for  you.  Tuckerman  is  now  at  my 
elbow  and  says  "  my  best  regards  to  R.  W.  G.  " 

T  cannot  get  out  of  those  fellows  when  the  Lord  made  them,  or  I 
would  gladly  give  you  the  dates.  They  all  seem  delicate  as  a  spinster  on 
that  point,  so  you  must  give  it  up. 

Allston  has  just  accepted  the  office  of  President  of  a  new  Artists 
society,  got  up  in  this  city,  a  few  days  since.  Braham  is  here,  antiquating 
melody  most  abominably.  Jane  Sloman  carries  everything  before  her,  and 
the  "  Circus  is  now  open.  "  This  is  all  of  news  I  can  indite.  We  are  dull  on 
that  point.  One  of  our  largest  houses  is  in  hot  water.  If  they  (  the  firm  ) 
get  out  it  will  be  with  a  scald  at  least.  I  refer  td  Billiard,  Gray  &  Co.  .  .  In 
great  haste,  Very  truly  Yours. 

J.  T.  F  field*]. 

1  Jan..  1842. 
My  Dear  Friend  [Keesej  : 

Positively  Mr.  Griswold  is  the  kindest,  most  generous  and 
amiable  man  I  ever  yet  knew.  The  impression  he  made  on  me  the  first 
moment  I  ever  saw  him,  has  continued  in  all  its  warmth  and  force. 


104  C:   FENNO   HOFFMAN. 

He  made  an  excuse  that  it  was  too  late  to  call  ou  Mr.  Benjamin,  in 
order  to  get  me  to  go  home  with  him.  I  have  just  returned  loaded  with 
books,  autographs  and  engravings,  rich  and  rare,  and  yet  I  feel  as  if  they 
were  the  least — the  manner  of  conferring  the  favors,  the  sweet  amiable 
manner,  increased  them  tenfold.  I  could  do  anything  to  serve  such  an 
amiable  being.  I  feel  indeed  your  debtor,  for  introducing  me  to  Mr. 
Griswold,  and  only  wish  I  knew  how  to  show  my  gratitude  both  to  you  and 
him.  .  .  Ever  gratefully  and  faithfully  yours, 

R.  Balmanno. 


37  Murray  St.,  New  York,  Jan.  11, 1842. 
My  Dear  Griswold  : — 

.  .  .  That  scrap  which  I  gave  you  for  the  Memoir — omit  or  shape 
it  as  you  think  best.  I  am  sorry  now  I  suggested  the  Mirror — for  if  every 
one  mentions  his  year  of  editorship  poor  Morris,  I  fear,  would  be  marked  as 
the  court  gallant  in  the  play— when  one  claims  the  cloak,  one  the  feathered 
beaver,  and  a  third  his  doublet,  until  the  unlucky  Magnitico  is  only  left  a 
shirt  to  shrive  in. 

You  might  lump  the  matter  in  this  way—"  became  the  proprietor  of  the 
American  Monthly  in  March,  '35,  and  during  the  three  or  four  following 
years,  while  the  chief  editor  of  the  same,  as  well  as  subsequently,  his  pen 
was  also  busy  in  the  Mirror,  New  Yorker,  and  other  journals,  in  all  of  which, 
among  a  variety  of  subjects,  he  wrote  zealously  in  favor  of  international 
copyright." 

Now  for  God's  sake  don't  keep  this  to  put  into  your  curiosities  of 
literature  under  the  head  of  "whimwhams  of  egotistical  authors.''  My 
friend,  it  is  no  whimwham !  I  have  a  deep  design  in  it.  The  fact  is,  I  have 
such  a  devil  of  a  bad  reputation  for  laziness  that  I  want  to  get  credit  in  your 
book  for  every  atom  of  industry  that  really  belongs  to  me,  and  that  without 
jostling  the  fame  of  others.  Who  has  worked  harder  .  .  .  than  Morris?  Tell 
me,  thou  biographical  Warwick,— "  the  setter  up  and  puller  down  of 
Kings  "  ( poetic  ones  ) .  Ever  yours  truly, 

C.  F.  Hoffman. 


New  York,  Feb.  18, 1842. 
R.  W.  Griswold, 

I  have  delivered  my  Lecture  here,  and  got  a  few  copies  printed 
for  my  own  use.    I  send  you  one  by  this  mail,  which  you  will  keep  out  of 


HORACE   GKKKLKY.  105 

the  dirty  hands  of  all  type-stickers,  for  the  present.  I  am  going  to  repeat  it 
at  Newark  a  week  from  Monday  evening,  and  of  course  don't  mean  to  pub 
lish  it  yet,  nor  before  the  1st  of  April.  But  it  has  some  good  thoughts,  and  I 
would  like  a  chance  of  trying  it  on  to  a  Philadelphia  audience,  if  I  could  get 
a  right  good  one.  Is  this  thing  practicable?  I  know  there  are  hardly  a 
hundred  persons  in  Philadelphia  who  know  of  me,  yet  if  one  of  your  Lecture 
Associations  should  have  a  hole  in  their  programme,  they  might  call  me  to 
fill  it,  if  suggested.  Now,  mind ;  I  don't  want  a  chance  begged ;  I  don't  want 
to  come  to  Philadelphia  t5  lecture  to  a  school-room  full  of  loafers.  But  if 
the  right  thing  is  practicable  within  a  fortnight  or  so,  you  will  know  it,  and 
can  arrange  it.  If  not,  say  no  more  about  it,  but  keep  my  Lecture  close.  If 
I  come,  I  should  expect  t5  be  paid  my  expenses  at  least,  though  that  would 
be  no  object.  What  I  want  is  a  hearing.  So  much  for  fun  :  Now  to  busi 
ness.  Bisbee  dunned  me  today  to  write  sketches  of  the  leading  Editors  of 
the  Country  for  a  new  monthly  periodical.  I  told  him  I  would  do  it  only 
with  your  co-operation— that  I  could  rather  lick  you  in  solid  writing,  but  in 
universal  knowledge  of  men  and  things — in  Literary  cooperism,  you  were 
boss,  decidedly.  Well,  he  agreed  t5  write  you  today.  Now,  Gris,  I  write  to 
say ;  ask  a  fair  price  for  doing  it,  and  stipulate  how  it  is  t5  be  done.  I  think 
about  two  pages  to  each  person,  and  six  editors  to  a  number,  would  be  the 
load.  They  will  probably  be  illustrated.  Now  if  this  thing  is  to  be  done,  it 
ought  t5  be  worth  $>o  a  biography  or  Portrait  (to  be  divided  between 
Sternhold  and  Hopkins  )  and  it  must  be  kept  utterly  a  secret.  If  it  is  known 
to  these  persons  who  is  doing  it,  it  won't  be  done  at  all.  The  Biog's  must  be 
perfectly  impartial  and  conscientious,  or  they  will  be  drivel  and  fall  dead. 
This  is  all  for  once.  Read  my  Lecture  tSmorrow  evening;  take  a 
strong  cup  of  tea  and  put  a  piece  of  ice  in  the  back  of  your  neck,  and  you'll 
get  through  it.  Then  give  me  a  thorough  criticism  in  one  page.  Yours, 

Horace  Greeley. 


Richmond,  Va.,  9th  March,  1842. 
Dear  Gris  wold, 

'Tis  not  every  man  who  ought  to  have  influence  that  has  it.  I 
have  known  Upshaw  [the  Secretary  of  the  Navy  ]  long  and  intimately.  I 
ever  have  been,  as  I  still  am,  his  warm  friend  and  admirer.  Still  I  have  not 
the  vanity  t5  believe  that  I  have  the  least  influence  with  him. 

What  I  think  of  yourself ,  and  of  your  claims,  I  shall  endorse  in  this. 
If  not  what  you  desire,  fashion  a  paper  for  yourself,  send  it  on  to  me  and  I 


106  HORACE  GKEELEY. 

will  adopt  it  as  my  own.    I  like  you  much,  and  liking  you  am  willing  t5  do 
all  for  you  that  lies  in  my  power.  .  .  In  great  haste,  Your  friend, 

T.  W.  W  [bite]. 


New  York.  March  22,  1S42. 
Dear  Gris, 

.  .  .  We  got  out  our  double  sheet  Daily  this  morning,  and  I 
respectfully  submit  that  it  is  no  small  potatoes.  ( 25,000  to  30,000  copies.)  I 
had  to  fight  to  get  in  the  tall  puff  of  <  The  Poets '  which  you  will  find  in  the 
best  place  in  the  paper,  but  I  did  get  it  in,  while  a  great  many  others  were 
left  out,  which  I  had  promised,  and  meant  to  get  in.  If  '  The  Poets'  do  not 
sell,  the  fault  shall  not  be  mine. 

When  will  you  be  on  ?  I  want  you  to  bring  me  a  right  good  copy  to 
keep,  and  an  ordinary  one  to  write  notices  from,  which  I  don't  mind  paying 
cost  for.  I  want  to  write  a  Review  for  the  Southern  Literary,  but  don't 
know  how  to  begin  on  the  proof-sheets  I  have  with  me.  However,  I  must 
try,  if  you  are  not  here  by  Saturday. 

Can  you  find  any  materials  in  Philadelphia  for  my  '  Life  and  Eloquence 
of  John  Randolph? '  or  for  my  *  Life  of  Capt.  John  Smith? '  which  you  have 
not  already?  The  latter  is  to  be  got  up  soon,  between  you  and  I,  as  soon  as 
you  are  a  free  man. 

H.  Greeley. 


April  20, 1842. 
R.  W.  Griswold,  Esq.,  Dear  Sir: 

Have  you  fully  determined  on  assuming  the  Chaplaincy  and  t5 
abandon  the  editorial  chair?  Or  could  you  find  it  in  your  heart  to  locate  in 
Philadelphia?  Let  me  hear  from  you  as  I  have  a  proposal  to  make. 

I  like  your  book  much.  We  received  it  from  Carey  and  Hart  yester 
day,  and  although  it  will  give  offence  t5  a  few,  it  will  be  popular,  and  please 
every  man  of  taste.  Yours, 

G.  R.  Graham. 


May  3, 1842. 
R.  W.  Griswold,  Esq.,  Dear  Sir, 

Your  letter  I  should  have  acknowledged  ere  this— but  have  over 
looked  the  closing  sentence.  I  am  glad  that  you  agree  to  our  proposal,  and 
we  shall  be  ready  to  give  you  the  "right  hand  of  fellowship,"  as  soon  as 
'  orders  are  taken.'  Mr.  P[eterson  ]  is  right.  The  salary  [is  J  to  be  $1,000 


UNBIASSKD   CRITICISM.  107 

per  annum.  We  shall  hope  to  see  the  light  of  your  countenance  soon.  Do 
you  know  how  I  could  get  full  length  drawings  of  Longfellow,  Bryant, 
Irving,  and  other  authors?  Yours, 

G.  R.  Graham. 


New  York,  May  16,  1842. 
Rufus  W.  Griswold,  Reverend  Sir: 

Can't  you  contrive  to  be  in  the  City  next  week  a  few  days  just  t5 
kiss  your  babies  and  attend  to  my  business?  Raymond  wants  to  be  off;  I 
have  had  lawsuits  to  attend  to,  and  want  to  be  able  to  be  off,  and  I  fear  The 
Tribune  will  suffer.  I  will  give  you  $20  to  work  for  me  four  days,  com 
mencing  Tuesday  morning  and  ending  Friday  night.  Now  don't  come  t6 
oblige  me;  but  if  you  can  spare  yourself,  and  happen  t5  want  to  come  t6 
'  York,'  why  you  will  accommodate  me,  and  not  at  your  own  charge.  Yours, 

H.  Greeley. 

P.  S. — Why  didn't  you  ask  me  to  announce  your  connection  with 
Graham?    Raym  hasn't  half  done  it.    Always  come  to  headquarters.    Yours, 

H.  G. 


New  York,  May  19th,  1842. 
My  dear  Griswold, 

I  have  requested  the  Harpers  to  send  you  a  copy  of  my  little 
book.  Please  keep  the  authorship  a  secret,  and  if  you  can  get  the  accom 
panying  notices  published,  one  in  the  North  American,  and  the  other  in  the 
Evening  Journal,  without  betraying  it,  do  so.  I  shall  be  much  obliged,  and 
will  cheerfully  reciprocate  the  favor  at  any  time.  Nothing  new.  Pray  send 
me  the  [  Saturday  Evening  ]  Post  occasionally.  I  have  an  article  for  the 
Mag.  in  preparation.  Yours  truly,  My  dear  G., 

Epes  Sargent. 


New  York,  May  20,  1842. 
R.  W.  Gris. 

I  came  down  from  Dutchess  County  this  morning.  I  went  up 
night  before  last  to  attend  a  Tariff  Convention,  and  we  had  a  right  good  one. 
I  have  hardly  ever  enjoyed  a  more  refreshing  season. 

I  found  yours  here.  All  right;  I  shall  get  along  perfectly  well.  Ray 
mond  went  off  to  see  somebody  night  before  last;  so  the  T.  had  t5  go  pretty 
much  alone  yesterday.  It  did  it  very  well,  however. 

I  mean  to  start  on  my  Western  tour  a  fortnight  from  tonight.    I  have 


108  N.   P.   WILLIS. 

two  libel  suits  next  week,  one  of  them  at  Saratoga.    So  you   see  business  is 
brisk,  notwithstanding  the  hard  times. 

Gris.,  do  you  know  I  am  going  West  soon,  and  want  my  copy  of  the 
Poets  to  take  along;'  That's  the  fact,  anyhow.  You  know  1  gave  mine  up 
to  Seaton,  and  you  have  postponed  replacing  it.  Send  me  a  decent  copy  and 
I'll  take  my  Library  copy  when  you  get  out  your  corrected  edition. 

Remember  me  and  don't  fail  to  write.  Yours, 

Horace  Greeley. 


The  portraits  of  authors  (  steel  engravings )  published  in  Graham's 
Magazine  wer,  for  the  greater  part,  failures,  both  as  likenesses  and  as  pict 
ures.  But  that  of  Willis  was  an  exception,  a  handsomer  man  than  he  was, 
according  to  this  view,  never  was  sketchd. 

[  By  permission  of  Mrs.  J.  T :  Fields.  ] 

New  York,  May  20,  1842. 
My  dear  Sir  [Graham]  : 

I  send  you  a  tale  ad  punctum  temporis— two  months  before,  as 

<? 

per  order.  If  you  do  not  like  this  story  I  am  in  despair.  It  is  my  best,  says 
Mrs.  Willis.  .  .  Will  you  trouble  yourself  to  look  at  the  New  Mirror.  With 
this  number  I  began  to  edit  it,  and  I  trust  it  will  please  you.  I  have  not  yet 
begun  to  write  the  literary  notices,  but  shall. 

By  the  way,  three  weeks  ago  I  gave  Mr.  Dick  a  Sketch  to  take  on  to 
you.  He  did  not  go,  however,  and  I  took  Griswold  in  to  see  it.  He  thought 
it  excellent,  and  I  think  it  could  not  be  bettered.  In  haste, 

Yours  very  faithfully, 

N.  P.  Willis. 


Considering  how  often  our  literary  periodicals  proclaim  this 
t6  be  the  age  of  magazines,  it  is  interesting  to  notice  that  the 
same  opinion  was  held,  by  the  same  class  of  persons,  fifty 
years  ago.  Mr.  J  :  Inman,  wh6,  after  long  service  on  a  daily 
journal,  took  charge  of  'The  Columbian  Magazine'  in  1843, 
introduced  it  by  the  folloing  remarks : 

"  We  have  said  that  this  is  the  age  of  magazines  ;  adverting 
not  merely  t6  their  number,  but  even  more  especially  to  their 
excellence.  They  are  the  field,  chiefly,  in  which  literary  repu- 


MAGAZINE  LITERATURE.  109 

tation  is  won.  .  .  In  fact,  the  magazine  is  the  true  channel  into 
which  talent  should  direct  itself  for  the  acquisition  of  literary 
fame.  The  newspaper  is  too  ephemeral ;  the  book  is  not  of 
sufficiently  rapid  and  frequent  production.  The  monthly  mag 
azine  just  hits  the  happy  medium,  enabling  the  writer  to  pre 
sent  himself  twelve  times  a  year  before  a  host  of  readers,  in 
wh6se  memories  he  is  thus  kept  fresh,  yet  allowing  him  space 
enough  t6  develop  his  thought,  and  time  enough  to  do  his  talent 
justice  in  each  article.  Then,  too,  on  the  score  of  emolument, 
justly  recognized  now  as  a  very  essential  matter,  and  legiti 
mately  entitled  to  grave  consideration,  the  magazine  offers 
advantages  not  within  the  reach  of  either  book  or  newspaper. 
.  .  .  But  the  great  point  is,  that  magazines  are  more  read  than 
any  other  kind  of  publications.  They  just  adapt  themselves  to 
the  leisure  of  the  business  man,  and  the  taste  of  the  idler;  t6 
the  spare  half  hours  of  the  notable  housewife  and  the  languid 
inertia  of  the  fashionable  lady.  They  can  be  dropped  iut6  a 
valise  or  a  carpet-bag  as  a  welcome  provision  for  the  wants  of 
a  journey  by  steam-boat  or  railroad,  when  the  country  through 
which  the  traveller  passes  offers  nothing  attractive  t6  be  seen, 
or  the  eyes  are  weary  of  seeing ;  they  while  delightfully  the 
tedious  hours  of  a  rainy  day  in  summer,  and  afford  the  most 
pleasant  occupation  through  the  long  evenings  of  winter.  " 

After  quoting  the  above,  the  editor  of  '  The  Knickerbocker' 
continues  the  subject  as  folios  : —  "  Touching  the  matter  of 
payment  for  magazine  articles :  Mr.  Willis  informs  us  that 
many  of  the  American  magazines  pay  to  their  more  eminent 
contributors  nearly  three  times  the  amount  for  a  printed  page 
that  is  paid  by  English  magazines  to  the  best  writers  in  Great- 
Britain  ;  and  he  instances  Godey  and  Graham  as  paying  often 
twelve  dollars  a  page  t6  their  principal  contributors.  This 


110  AUTHORS'  PAY. 

refers  t6  a  few  '  principal '  writers  only,  as  we  have  good  rea 
son  t6  know,  having  been  instrumental  in  sending  several 
acceptable  correspondents  to  those  publications,  who  have 
received  scarcely  one-fourth  of  the  sum  mentioned.  Mr.  Willis 
adds,  however,  that  many  good  writers  write  for  nothing,  and 
that  '  the  number  of  clever  writers  has  increased  so  much  that 
there  are  thousands  wh6  can  get  no  article  accepted.'  All  this 
is  quite  true.  There  is  no  magazine  in  America  that  has  paid 
so  large  sums  to  distinguished  native  writers  as  the  Knicker 
bocker.  The  books  of  this  Magazine  show  that  independent 
of  the  Editors'  division  of  its  profits  as  joint  proprietor,  or  his 
salary  as  editor,  annual  sums  have  heretofore  been  paid  for 
literary  materiel  greater  than  the  most  liberal  estimate  we  have 
seen  of  any  annual  literary  payment  by  our  widely-circulated 
contemporaries.  To  the  first  poet  in  America  we  have  repeat 
edly  paid  fifty  dollars  for  a  single  poem,  not  exceeding,  in  any 
instance,  two  pages  in  length ;  and  the  cost  of  prose  papers 
from  sources  of  kindred  eminence  has  in  many  numbers  ex 
ceeded  fifteen  dollars  a  page.  Again :  we  have  in  several 
instances  paid  twice  as  much  for  the  MS.  of  a  continuous  novel 
in  these  pages  us  the  writer  could  obtain  of  any  metropolitan 
book-publisher ;  and  after  appearing  in  volumes  it  has  been 
found  that  the  wide  publicity  given  to  the  work  by  the  Knick 
erbocker  has  been  of  the  greatest  service  t6  its  popularity.  We 
should  add,  however,  that  we  have  had  no  lack,  at  any  period, 
of  excellent  articles  for  our  work  at  moderate  prices ;  while 
many  of  our  more  popular  papers  have  been  entirely  gratuitous, 
unless  indeed  the  writers  consider  the  honorable  reputation 
which  they  have  established  in  these  pages  as  some  reward  for 
intellectual  exertion." 


ANN    S.    STEPHENS.  Ill 

The  editor  discreetly  avoids  saying  whether  he  means  Bryant 
or  Longfellow  when  he  speaks  of  *  the  first  poet  in  America.' 
But  while  these  authors,  as  well  as  Irving  and  Willis,  got  prices 
which  were  very  large  for  the  time,  it  appears  from  a  letter  of 
Thoreau  that  most  writers  got  little  or  nothing  : — "  Literature," 
he  wrote  on  the  14  Sept.  of  the  same  year  in  which  'The 
Knickerbocker'  made  these  boasts,  "comes  to  u  poor  market 
here,  and  even  the  little  that  I  write  is  more  than  will  sell.  I 
have  tried  the  Democratic  Review,  the  New  Mirror,  and 
Brother  Jonathan.  The  last  tw6,  as  well  as  the  New  World, 
are  overwhelmed  with  contributions  which  cost  nothing  and  are 
worth  no  more.  The  Knickerbocker  is  too  poor,  and  only  the 
Ladies'  Companion  pays.  (X Sullivan  is  printing  the  manu 
script  I  sent  him  some  time  ago.  .  . " 

Snowden,  the  oner  and  editor  of  the  only  periodical  which 
paid,  was  joint  oner  of  the  Bowery  Theatre.  He  died  not 
long  after,  and  it  would  appear  from  the  remarks  of  the 
Knickerbocker  on  his  death  that  his  habit  of  paying  was 
due  t6  his  goodnature  rather  than  t6  business  exigencies. 
"Mr.  Snowden,"  it  says,  "was  a  frank,  ingenuous  man,  and 
his  death  will  be  lamented  by  numerous  contributors,  good, 
bad  and  indifferent,  wh6m  his  kindness  has  heretofore  be 
friended." 


New  York,  June  3  [1842]. 
My  Dear  Sir  [  Graham  ]  : 

...  I  have  been  greatly  annoyed  and  really  kept  ill  by  a  false  and 
unpleasant  rumor,  started  in  the  Aurora  of  this  city,  that  I  had  become  an 
editor  of  the  Sunday  News.  This  rumor  has  been  copied  and  commented 
on  throughout  the  Union  ouce  or  twice  in  a  manner  that  has  wounded  me 
very  deeply,  so  deeply  that  if  it  were  not  that  I  am  compelled  t5  write  for 
my  bread  I  would  never  put  my  pen  td  paper  again  for  an  American  paper 


112  WOMEN  AS  JOURNALISTS. 

after  my  present  contract  has  expired.  No  one  but  myself  knows  bow 
earnestly  I  have  persevered  in  my  profession,  how  much  of  mere  profit  I 
have  sacrificed  rather  than  sacrifice  anything  of  its  respectability.  I  have 
never  yet  written  a  line  which  it  would  give  me  pleasure  to  recall  from  a  fear 
of  the  injury  it  may  d5  and,  knowing  this,  I  feel  indignant  and  wounded 
that  any  member  of  the  press  should  believe  me  capable  of  accepting  a  situ 
ation  proper  only  for  the  other  sex. 

...  I  know  that  I  may  be  feeling  this  subject  too  sensitively  but  no  one 
knows  how  keenly  I  feel  anything  calculated  to  represent  me  as  unwomanly. 
My  husband  has  purchased  a  share  of  the  News  and  that  is  all. 

I  am  grieved  to  see  the  review  of  Mrs.  Ware  [by  Benjamin]  and  I  am 
sure  your  own  generous  heart  never  prompted  the  publication.  She  is  a 
woman,  and  to  such,  a  poetical  temperament  brings  its  own  curse  without 
harsh  criticism.  The  man  who  wrote  that  review  should  remember  that  a 
woman  cannot  strike  back  without  unsexing  herself. 

Remember  me  to  Mrs.  G.  and  Mr.  Peterson  and  let  me  hear  from  you 
all  soon.  You  see  I  write  in  a  fit  of  the  blues.  Yours  truly, 

Ann  S.  Stephens. 


[Referring  to  a  short  article  on  Niagara.    It  was  published  in  the 
August  number.  ] 

Niagara,  June  13th,  1842. 
Dear  Gris : 

I  have  fulfilled  my  promise  to  you  though  at  the  cost  of  violating 
some  other  promises — or  at  least  deferring  their  fulfillment.  I  hope  this  will 
reach  you  seasonably  for  August.  .  .  It  has  been  written  very  hastily  and 
uncomfortably,  but  I  think  it  will  answer.  Yours, 

Horace  Greeley. 


[The  spelling  of  these  letters  corresponds  to  that  of  the  originals.] 

Boston,  June  13th,  1842. 
My  Dear  Sir,— 

Agreeable  to  promise  I  take  this  early  opportunity  of  trans 
mitting  to  you  the  views  of  our  firm,  in  refterence  to  the  subject  of  editing 
the  [  Boston  ]  Misselany. 

We  are  decidedly  of  the  opinion  that  a  change  of  editor  is  nessessary 
for  the  permanent  suxcess  of  the  work,  and  as  Mr.  Hale['s]  time  ex 
pires  with  the  Dec.  no.  of  the  present  year  we  are  anxious  to  make  an  early 
arrangement  for  the  next. 


MARIA    BROOKS.  113 

We  have  no  hesitation  in  saying  that  you  possess  our  fulest  con 
fidence  as  being  every  way  calculated  to  give  a  popularity  t5  the  work 
nessessary  to  ensure  a  large  circulation.  Will  you  d5  us  the  favour  to 
address  a  line  to  the  writer  stateing  your  terms  for  furnishing  the  whole 
matter  of  the  Miscelany  and  taking  the  e[n]tire  charge  of  the  editorial 
department  of  the  same.  .  .  Your  obedient  Servant, 

S.  S.  Soden. 


Philadelphia,  10th  July,  '42. 
My  dear  James  [Fields  ]  : 

...  I  have  been  to  New  York  for  a  few  days  and  saw  all  the 
people, — breakfasted  with  Willis,  smoked  with  Halleck,  took  tea  with  Keese, 
dined  with  Maria  *  del  Occidente,'  chatted  with  Hoffman,  Balmanuo,  Mrs. 
Embury,  Seba  Smith,  Miss  Thayer  (  an  old  Boston  friend  of  yours,  who  is 
one  of  the  greatest  of  living  characters, )  etc.  Touching  Maria  Brooks— she 
is  a  wonderful  woman — I  have  never  seen  her  compeer.  She  talked  as  volu 
bly  as  any  woman,  but  not  as  women  talk ;  but  what  I  have  to  say  of  her 
must  be  addressed  to  Whipple,  concerning  whom,  and  Macaulay,  we  held 
appreciative  converse.  You  have  seen,  I  doubt  not,  the  new  arrangements 
for  the  magazine.  I  had  little  to  do  with  the  July  No.,  as  it  was  nearly  all 
printed  before  I  came  hither;  but  the  August  is  better,  and  the  Sept.  will  be 
better  still.  Cooper,  Bryant,  Longfellow,  all  the  while!  besides  Fields  and 
Tuckerman  ! — of  course  you  will  send  me  something  in  time  for  it.  Speak 
ing  of  Longfellow — the  MS.  of  his  Spanish  Student  I  shall  have  bound  in 
green  and  gold — would  you  not  like  to  have  it?  Such  autographs  are  not  to 
be  picked  up  every  day.  .  . 

R.  W.  Griswold. 


Boston,  July  Hth,  1842. 
Dear  Griswold : 

...  I  sent  White  a  brief  notice  of  your  book.  What  has  become 
of  it?  ...  You  have  heard  me  speak  of  a  poem,  prepared  with  some  care,  I 
believe.  I  am  invited  to  deliver  it  before  the  "  Literary  Fraternity "  of 
Waterville  College  in  August,  and  have  accepted  the  invitation.  Rev.  F.  H. 
Hedge  of  Bangor  is  the  orator.  He  is  a  very  fine  writer.  Fields  leaves 
tomorrow  for  an  excursion  to  the  White  Hills.  How  beautifully  Tickuor 
has  published  Tennyson.  There  are  some  most  exquisite  things  in  the  work 
and  some  very  careless  ones.  1  had  no  idea  until  I  read  his  collected  poetry, 
how  many  bare-faced  imitators  he  had  in  this  country.  F[ields]  has  made 
a  very  pretty  affair  of  your  "Poets" — having  inserted  about  one  hundred 


114  COOPKR  ON   IRVING. 

very  appropriate  engravings  and  made  two  volumes,  elegantly  bound.  You 
remember  my  copy  of  the  1st  never  reached  me.  I  understand  Pier- 
pont  poetizes  at  Brown  University  this  commencement,  and  Wm.  Cutter  at 
Dartmouth.  J.  Q.  Adams  is  the  orator  at  Bowdoin.  .  .  Whipple  is  mightily 
amused  at  some  lines  addressed  to  me  in  the  June  Literary  Messenger  by  a 
young  lady.  I  suppose  he  thinks  the  title  of  "gifted  English  writer'' be 
longs  rightfully  only  to  Babington  !  However,  as  the  praise  was  as  unex 
pected  as  flattering,  it's  no  fault  of  mine  and  was  intended  to  be  anonymous, 
I  am  told.  White,  indelicately  enough,  attached  the  real  name  of  his  cor 
respondent  to  the  lines!  Truly  thine, 

H.  T.  T  [  uckerman  ] . 


Otsego  Hall,  Cooperstown,  August  7th,  1842. 
Dear  Sir, 

...  I  never  met  with  any  person  of  so  bad  :»  memory  as  Mrs. 
Keen.  I  am  glad  to  get  the  copy  of  the  register,  however,  which  determines 
one  important  fact  about  poor  Somers,  concerning  whom  so  little  is  known. 
I  fully  appreciate  your  motives  in  what  you  say  about  Mr.  Irving. 
Bryant,  however,  does  not  understand  me,  instead  of  my  not  understanding 
Irving.  My  opinion  has  been  independent  of  what  that  gentleman  might 
have  said  of  me,  or  my  writings,  or  character.  It  has  been  solely  formed  on 
what  are  admitted  to  be  his  acts  and  what  I  think  of  them.  I  never  under 
stood  that  Irving  was  severe  on  me,  either  as  a  man  or  an  author;  if  I  bad, 
pride  might  cause  me  to  suppress  what  I  think  of  him,  but,  when  we  meet 
I  will  give  you  facts,  and  leave  you  to  form  your  own  opinion.  A  published 
eulogy  of  myself  from  Irving's  pen  could  not  change  my  opinion  of  his 
career.  His  course  in  politics  is  of  a  piece  with  all  the  rest,  and  was  pre 
cisely  what  had  been  predicted  of  him,  by  those  who  knew  him.  Cuvier  had 
the  same  faults  as  Irving,  and  so  had  Scott.  They  were  all  meannesses,  and 
I  confess  I  can  sooner  pardon  crimes,  if  they  are  manly  ones.  I  have  never 
had  any  quarrel  with  Mr.  Irving,  and  give  him  full  credit  as  a  writer.  Still, 
I  believe  him  to  be  below  the  ordinary  level,  in  moral  qualities,  instead  of 
being  above  them,  as  he  is  cried  up  to  be.  I  believe  the  same  to  have  been 
the  case  with  Scott,  whom  I  know  for  a  double-dealer.  If  you  know  the 
Carvills,  ask  them  to  give  you  the  history  of  the  manner  in  which  they 
re-sold  to  Irving  their  right  in  his  Columbus.  I  did  not  get  the  circum 
stances  from  them,  but  they  doubtless  will  recollect  them,  if  they  dare  tell 
them. 


KNTCKKHIHH'KKR   LITKKATURTC.  115 

Bryant  is  worth  forty  Irvings,  in  every  point  of  view,  but  he,  runs  a 
little  into  the  seemly  [  V]  school.  1  see  he  begins  to  fire  a  little  at  Dickens, 
wh5,  by  the  way,  is  doing  precisely  what  I  looked  for,  from  him.  This 
country  must  outgrow  its  adulation  of  foreigners.  Englishmen  in  particular, 
as  children  outgrow  the  rickets.  It  will  not  happen  in  your  day, — much  less 
in  mine.  .  .  Very  truly  yours. 

J.  Fenimore  Cooper. 

Cooper  used  t6  call  on  Bryant  when  in  New  York,  and 
Godwin,  with  happy  alliteration,  characterizes  the  effect  he 
made  on  these  occasions.  He  came  in,  he  says,  "  burly, 
brusque  and  boisterous,  like  a  bluff  sailor,  always  bringing  a 
breeze  of  quarrel  with  him."  Some  observations  of  Mr.  Den 
nett  form  an  amusing  commentary  on  Cooper's  remark  condemn 
ing  adulation  of  Englishmen.  "It  is  so  true/'  says  the  '  Na 
tion  '  writer,  "  as  t6  be  truisrnatically  true  that,  to  the  end  of 
their  days,  the  writers  wh6  produced  it  [  the  Knickerbocker 
literature  ]  were  colonists  and  provincials ;  as  literary  men  they 
had  no  right  t6  any  Fourth  of  July.  .  .  Imitation  was  the  life 
and  breath  of  the  Knickerbocker  literature.  .  .  Cooper  was 
Scott  whenever  he  could  be,  so  far  as  he  could  be,  and  was 
himself  only  when  he  came  to  backwoods  and  prairies  which 
Sir  Walter  had  not  seen." 


New  York,  Aug.  8,  1842. 
Rufus  W.  Griswold,  Esq. 

.  .  .  You  asked  me  for  some  autobiographical  notes,  which  I 
promised.  I  do  not  expect  ever  to  have  more  leisure  than  now— and  now  I 
have  not  half  an  hour.  But  you  do  not  want  much  on  so  obscure  a  subject. 
So  here  I  map  you  the  voyagings  of  my  little  cock-tail  boat  thus  far. 

Born  Feb.  12,  1804,— South  Canaan,  Ct.  Removed  to  Ohio,  1810. 
Learned  letters,  figures,  etc.,  from  my  father  and  his  books.  He  has  been  a 
bookish  man — rather  mathematical — a  classmate  of  Chancellor  Kent.  Still 
lives  in  Elyria,  Ohio.  He  was  one  of  the  most  active  and  liberal  of  the 
founders  of  the  Western  Reserve  College,  though  with  a  large  family  and 


116  ELIZUR  WRIGHT. 

not  a  man  of  wealth.  I  loved  reading,  but  had  no  ambition  for  a  college 
education  till  friends,  working  on  the  religious  enthusiasm  which  was 
kindled  in  me  at  about  the  age  of  16,  persuaded  me  to  fit  for  college,  in 
order  to  become  a  preacher— a  vocation  for  which  I  never  considered  myself 
naturally  qualified.  I  labored  in  summer  and  studied  in  Winter,  attending 
the  Tallmadge  Academy  which  my  father  generally  taught.  In  the  summer 
of  1822,  being  considered  "fit  for  college"  the  question  was,  how  to  get 
there.  The  Erie  Canal  was  not  then  done.  Farmers  in  Ohio  had  no  market 
for  their  wheat  or  anything  else.  Money  was  out  of  the  question.  My  father 
gave  me  a  deed  of  100  acres  of  wild  land  and  five  dollars — one  brother  added 
another  dollar,  another  gave  me  a  horse,  and  my  mother,  God  bless  her.  gave 
me  lots  of  good  things  for  the  journey.  Two  other  chaps  who  were  bound 
on  the  same  errand,  furnished  a  wagon  and  harness.  We  accomplished  the 
pilgrimage  to  Canaan  in  three  weeks — partly  on  the  plan  which  is  described 
by  the  phrase  "  ride  and  tie."  That  is  to  say,  two  of  us  started  at  the  crack 
of  day  from  the  lodging  place,  leaving  the  other  two, —  (for  we  had  taken  in 
a  passenger) — to  follow  with  the  wagon.  They  overtook  us  at  the  end  of 
two  or  three  miles  and,  having  gone  ahead  as  much  further,  tied  the  horse 
in  some  safe  place  by  the  roadside  and  walked  on.  Overtaking  the  horse, 
we  untied  him,  rode  on,  overtook,  passed  by,  tied  etc.  Our  expenses  in 
cash  were  $3.47  each,  as  near  as  I  can  remember,  and  I  seldom  forget  figures. 
By  the  sale  of  my  horse,  mortgaging  my  land  to  some  benevolent  person  for 
perhaps  $150,  ringing  the  college  bell,  sawing  wood,  keeping  school  two 
quarters,  and  running  in  debt  considerably,  I  attained  to  the  dignity  of  the 
first  sheep-skin.  After  this  important  achievement,  I  became  preceptor  of 
the  Academy  in  Groton,  Mass.,  at  the  salary  of  $600  per  annum,  where  I 
remained  two  years,  and  nearly  ruined  my  health. 

I  then  travelled  in  Pennsylvania  six  months  as  an  agent  for  the  Amer 
ican  Tract  Society.  From  this  I  was  appointed  Prof,  in  Mathematics,  etc.,  in 
the  W.  R.  College  at  Hudson,  Ohio— then  in  the  bud.  In  Sep.,  1829, 1  was 
married  to  Miss  Susan  Clark,  (  one  of  my  former  pupils  in  the  Academy)  of 
Groton,  Mass.  Her  constitution  was  not  suited  by  the  climate  of  Ohio,  and 
regard  for  her  health  at  last  obliged  us  to  return  to  the  sea  air. 

In  the  year  1832  I  had  become  interested  in  the  Anti-Slavery  question 
and  the  advocate  of  immediate  emancipation,  so  that  in  1833,  when  I  had 
concluded  to  resign  my  place,  half  the  trustees,  who  were  the  opponents  of 
that  doctrine,  were  quite  willing  I  should  go.  I  was  appointed  secretary  of 
the  American  Anti-Slavery  Society  at  its  formation  and  continued  so  till 


GRAHAM'S   MAGAZINE.  117 

1839.  Then  rem5ved  to  Dorchester,  Mass.,  where  I  now  Jive.  I  am  not  a 
rhymer,  much  less  a  poet,  by  nature.  Indeed  the  only  attempt  which  I 
made  at  rhyming  before  beginning  to  "  fit  for  college  "  was  so  unpromising 
that  I  threw  my  verses  away  and  never  after  thought  of  repeating  it,  till 
about  five  years  ago,  when  I  did  it  to  gratify  my  family.  The  translation  of 
La  Fontaine  was  undertaken  purely  as  a  little  sidewise  pecuniary  adventure 
for  the  benefit  of  my  family,  and  its  completion  and  publication  are  alto 
gether  due  to  the  untiring  perseverance  and  self-denial  of  my  wife.  My 
hope  of  a  sale  was  built  on  the  pictures  with  which  it  was  possible  to  adorn 
the  work. 

No  doubt  there  are  many  other  particulars  of  my  life  very  important 
and  interesting  to  the  public,  but  they  do  not  occur  to  me.  If  the  mighty 
achievements  which  I  have  already  recorded  have  wrongfully  abstracted  me 
from  the  plough-tail,  one  thing  is  certain,  I  am  sincerely  anxious  to  get 
back  there.  Yours  cordially, 

E.  Wright,  Jr. 


If  we  may  trust  'The  Tribune's'  opinion,  publishd  1  Octo 
ber  1842,  Griswold  was  a  successful  editor;  but  as  Greeley  and 
Raymond  wer  disposd,  from  friendship,  t6  say  the  best  they 
could  of  him,  their  evidence  is  not,  perhaps,  t6  be  deemd 
decisiv : 

Graham's  Magazine,  under  the  editorial  supervision  of  Mr.  Griswold, 
has  become  one  of  the  very  best  monthlies  in  the  country.  It  contains,  reg 
ularly,  the  contributions  of  the  best  and  most  popular  American  writers,  and 
presents  monthly  many  articles  not  only  well  fitted  for  a  leisure  hour's 
pleasant  recreation  but  conferring  honor  on  the  literature  of  the  land.  The 
plates  .  .  .  have  ceased  to  be  the  chief  attraction ;  puerile  love  tales,  maudlin 
sentiment  and  stupid  verse  are  not  allowed  to  monopolize  its  pages.  The 
nervous  pen  of  Cooper,  the  classic  verse  of  Bryant  and  the  delicate  but  pow 
erful  genius  of  Longfellow  are  enlisted  in  its  support  and  furnish  a  work 
fitted  to  please  the  taste  and  delight  the  mind  of  the  most  fastidious  reader. 
Mr.  Griswold  has  done  much  in  this  way  to  elevate  the  standard  of  our  peri 
odical  literature :  he  has  already  greatly  raised  its  tone  and  increased  its 
worth  while  he  has  preserved  all  its  pleasing  and  popular  features. 

The  leading  article  in  the  present  number  is  a  valuable  biography  by 
Cooper  of  Richard  Somers.  .  .  The  best  thing  in  the  number  is  the  continua- 


118  GRAHAM'S  MAGAZINE. 

tion  of  the  Spanish  Student,  by  Longfellow.  Bryant  contributes  a  thought 
ful  Poem,  and  Mrs.  Kirkland  .  .  .  furnishes  a  racy  and  amusing  Sketch.  .  . 
[Th.  S.  ]  Fay  comments  on  Macbeth,  not  half  as  well,  t5  be  sure,  as  it  has 
been  done  a  dozen  times  before — and  Mrs.  Embury  writes  a  very  pleasant 
tale.  Besides  these  articles  there  is  a  thrilling  tale  of  a  *  Night  at  Haddon 
Hall'  a  Criticism  by  Poe  of  Dawes'  Poetry  [the  same  which  Burton  refused 
to  publish,  and  which  Lowell  objected  to.  It  was  doubtless  tiled  for  inser 
tion  before  Griswold  became  editor.  ]  true  in  the  main  but  supercilious  and 
rather  commonplace ;  an  'Essay  on  Characterless  Women,'  by  Mrs.  Seba 
Smith,  and  several  other  brief  and  agreeable  papers. 

The  Editor's  Table  contains  two  interesting  features;  first,  to  our 
minds,  and  of  most  value,  the  announcement  that  the  Magazine  will  in  future 
contain  papers  from  the  pen  of  Richard  H.  Dana,  in  our  judgment  the  most 
powerful  and  gifted  writer  of  prose  and  poetry  in  this  country.  There  are 
few  things  in  the  language  which  seem  t5  us  half  so  worthy  a  comparison 
with  Hamlet,  in  the  thrilling  power  of  its  delineations  and  the  profound 
philosophical  insight  with  which  the  most  subtle  passions  of  the  soul  are 
traced  to  their  home,  and  developed  in  all  their  strength  and  terror,  as  the 
wild  and  sombre  tale  of  Paul  Felton.  Mr.  Dana  has  written  but  little  for 
many  years,  and  we  shall  look  with  deep  and  delightful  interest  for  his 
re-appearance  in  the  pages  of  this  Magazine.  .  .  " 

[  In  the  same  issue  is  to  be  found  a  criticism  of  '  Graham's '  chief  rival :  ] 
The  Lady's  Book  seems  to  us  sadly  misnamed,  for  it  is  of  late  uni 
formly  filled  with  trash, — the  most  unmeet  offering  in  the  world  for  those  to 
whom  the  book  is  professedly  addressed.  .  .  The  Editor's  Table  seems  uni 
formly  written  for  children  under  twelve  years  old,  and  sadly  lacks  both 
dignity  and  sense. 

Poe  expressd  his  opinion  qf  Griswold  and  his  brother  editors 
in  'The  New  World'  of  11  March  1843.  He  had  previously 
sent  the  same  remarks,  except  that  he  then  professd  t6  hold 
'  The  Knickerbocker'  in  hi  esteem,  t6  that  periodical,  but  Clark 
refusd  t6  print  them,  and  in  mentioning  their  rejection  added  a 
few  contemptuous  words  relativ  t6  their  author,  tho  without 
naming  him. 

We  commence  our  article  with  a  list  of  the  most  prominent  monthly 
periodicals  of  the  country,  which  are  as  follows :  The  Democratic  Review, 


POE  ON  THE  MAGAZINES  OF  THE  DAY.  119 

The  Knickerbocker,  Graham's  Magazine,  The  Lady's  Book,  Sargent's  Maga 
zine,  The  Pioneer,  The  Lady's  Companion,  and  the  Southern  Literary  Mes 
senger.  In  the  above  order  we  purpose  to  offer  a  few  thoughts  concerning 
the  character  of  each,  and  shall  conclude  with  a  remark  or  two  touching  the 
tendency  of  this  kind  of  literature.  .  .  The  glory  of  the  Knickerbocker  is  for 
ever  departed.  Once  it  was  a  thrice  welcome  messenger  of  intellectual 
entertainment  to  everybody,  ladies,  gentlemen,  and  all.  Nearly  all  our  dis 
tinguished  literary  men  have  at  times  made  it  the  medium  of  their  commun 
ications  to  the  public.  But,  alas !  the  good  names  now  connected  with  it  are 
few  and  far  between.  .  .  But  the  principal  cause  of  its  melancholy  decline 
may  be  traced  to  the  peculiar  and  unappreciated  talents  of  its  editor,  Lewis 
G.  Clark.  The  only  redeeming  quality  which  we  ( mind  we  don't  say  the 
public  )  can  find  in  this  gentleman  is  in  the  fact  that  he  is  the  brother  of  the 
late  Willis  G.  Clark,  who  was  one  of  the  most  gifted  of  our  poets,  and  an 
exceedingly  pleasant  prose  writer.  Mr.  Lewis  Clark  has  made  a  consider 
able  noise  in  the  literary  world,  but  how  he  has  made  it  would  be  difficult  for 
his  best  friends  to  explain.  One  of  our  readers  might  remark, '  Why,  don't 
you  know,  it  was  by  a  long  newspaper  discussion,  several  years  ago,  between 
himself  and  his  partner,  Mr.  Edson,  wherein  each  one  called  the  other  all  the 
hard  names  in  the  world.'  Another,  and  a  friend  of  his,  points  us  to  the 
Editor's  Table  of  the  Knickerbocker,  with  the  significant  assertion, 'That  is 
the  monthly  production  of  Mr.  Clark.'  Our  answer  t5  this  remark  is  that  it 
is  not  so.  But  allowing  it  to  be  true;  what  is  the  'Table'  but  a  lot  of  de 
tached  sentences  culled  from  various  newspapers,  together  with  extracts  from 
rejected  articles  which  the  gentleman  passes  off  as  original?  The  present 
condition  f)f  this  periodical  is  that  of  a  poorly  cooked-up  concern,  a  huge 
handsome-looking  body,  but  without  a  soul.  The  sooner  it  dies,  the  better  will 
it  be  for  the  proprietors ;  but  if  they  will  secure  an  able  and  efficient  editor 
[Edgar  A.  Poe,  for  instance],  we  doubt  not  but  that  it  might  be  placed 
in  the  noble  station  which  it  once  occupied.  The  most  popular  of  all 
the  magazines  is  that  published  by  Mr.  Graham,  who  is  a  practical  business 
man  and  a  friend  to  men  of  talents  of  every  cast.  Every  article  which  he 
prints  is  liberally  paid  for  and  he  has  the  honor  of  patronizing  a  large  [r] 
number  of  eminent  writers,  in  prose  and  verse,  than  any  other  publisher  in 
the  country.  Can  we  say  more  in  his  favor  or  in  favor  of  his  magazine? 
But  a  word  or  two  on  the  other  side.  The  embelishments  of  Graham  are 
not  quite  as  good  as  they  might  be,  because  they  are  too  many.  It  would 
suit  our  fancy  better,  though  perhaps  not  that  of  the  public,  to  receive  one  gem 


120  CRITICISMS  ON  '  THE  POETS  AND  POETRY. ' 

of  an  engraving  every  month,  instead  of  three  or  four  of  an  inferior  quality. 
Neither  do  we  like  the  nominal  editor  of  Graham's  Magazine.  And  why? 
Because,  though  a  pretty  good  compiler,  he  possesses  too  many  of  the  pecu 
liar  characteristics  of  Mr.  Lewis  G.  Clark.  Mr.  Rufus  W.  Griswold  is  wholly 
unfit,  either  by  intellect  or  character,  to  occupy  the  editorial  chair  of  Gra 
ham's  Magazine.  .  .  The  Lady's  Companion  is  a  milk  and  water  concern 
edited  by  a  penny-a-liner  and  foreigner  named  Hamilton.  It  is  a  receptacle 
of  nonsense  from  first  to  last,  of  picture  nonsense,  fashion  nonsense,  poetical 
nonsense,  and  prose  nonsense.  Of  course  we  do  not  allude  to  the  occasional 
productions  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Seba  Smith,  Mrs.  Embury,  and  one  or  tw5 
other  writers  of  reputation.  It  is  a  work  of  no  beneficial  influence  whatever, 
and  ought  to  be  annihilated.  .  . 


Philadelphia,  Sept.  7, 1842. 
My  Dear  Fields : 

Yours  per  Ticknor  was  received  this  morning,  and  I  sit  down  to 
write  a  hasty  expression  of  thanks  for  all  your  good  offices  in  my  behalf. 
Perhaps  Poe's  article  will  not  affect  the  book  at  all,  but  I  am  rather  pleased 
that  it  is  to  appear,  lest  Poe  should  think  I  had  prevented  its  publication. 
The  review  in  The  Examiner,  I  infer  from  what  Ticknor  says,  and  from 
your  own  brief  notice,  is  a  '  scorcher.-'  I  am  sorry  Dwight  had  not  the  sec 
ond  edition,  which  has  been  a  long  time  printed,  but  will  not  yet  be  issued 
for  a  week  or  two.  The  N.  A.  I  anticipate  with  as  much  dread  as  I  can  feel 
in  regard  to  any  criticism.  If  I  supposed  it  was  yet  unwritten  I  would  send 
the  corrected  edition  to  Dr.  Palfrey.  Do  you  see  Simms'  Magnolia?  He  is 
very  severe,  though  courteously  so,  on  me  for  omitting  Southern  Poets ! 
Ditto  the  Southern  Quarterly  Review.  I  hope  Palfrey  will  find  something 
omitted  so  that  the  wind  may  come  in  from  all  quarters.  The  Christian 
Examiner  has  not  yet  arrived  in  our  city,  which  will  account  for  my  not 
having  seen  it.  Our  October  number  is  good— very— with  Bryant,  Cooper, 
Longfellow,  Hoffman,  etc.  That  Peterson  imposed  on  me  a  Clam  Bake— 
the  most  wretched  stuff.  Your  '  To  Almeda '  is  in,  with  <  James '  over  it,  in 
full,  for  your  letter  of  the  15th  came  to  me  only  yesterday. 

In  November  we  have  Longfellow,  Cooper,  Bryant,  R.  H.  Dana,  Sr., 
Tuckerman,  Hoffman,  Osgood,  etc.  In  October  read  my  notes  on  the 
Minstrelsy  of  the  Revolution,  and  see  if  you  cannot  get  from  friend  Ditson 
those  ballads  he  promised  me,  for  a  second  article. 


POE  ON  <  THE  POETS  AND  POETRY. '  121 

Present  my  regards  to  Tuckerrnan,  Macaulay  [Whipple]  and  others, 
and  believe  me,  Very  sincerely,  your  friend, 

R.  W.  Griswold. 

[  C :  J.  Peterson  was  Graham's  man-of-all-work,  and  a  novel  by  him 
was  running  when  Griswold  took  charge.  It  is  evident  from  Griswold's  letter 
of  7  Sept.  that  he  was  blind  to  Peterson's  merits.] 


Poe  privately  agreed  with  Simms  ;  writing  t6  Daniel  Bryan, 
6  July  1842,  he  said  :  "  I  shall  make  war  t6  the  knife  against 
the  New  England  assumption  of  *  All  the  decency  and  all  the 
talent'  which  has  been  so  disgustingly  manifested  in  the  Rev. 
Rufus  W.  Griswold's  *  Poets  and  Poetry  of  America.'  " 

The  history  of  Poe's  article,  or  what  he  wishd  to  pass  for  its 
history,  is  very  curious.  He  wrote  at  least  tw6  reviews  of 
Griswold's  book,  the  second  of  which,  publishd  in  the  '  Satur 
day  Museum,'  in  1843,  is  referred  t6  on  page  90.  The  first 
came  out  in  '  The  Boston  Miscellany '  for  October  1842.  On 
September  12th,  Poe  had  written  t6  Thomas  as  folios  : — 

He  [Griswold]  is  a  pretty  fellow  to  set  himself  up  for  an  honest 
judge  or  even  as  a  capable  one.  About  two  months  since  [say  July]  we 
were  talking  of  the  book,  when  I  said  I  thought  of  reviewing  it  in  full  for 
the  Democratic  Review,  but  found  my  design  anticipated  by  an  article  from 
that  ass  O'Sullivan,  and  that  I  knew  no  other  work  in  which  a  notice  would 
be  readily  admissible.  Griswold  said  in  reply :  l  You  need  not  trouble 
yourself  about  the  publication  of  the  review,  should  you  decide  upon  writing 
it,  for  I  will  attend  to  all  that.  I  will  get  it  into  some  reputable  work,  and 
look  t5  it  for  the  usual  pay,  in  the  meantime  handing  you  whatever  your 
charge  would  be. '  This,  you  see,  was  an  ingenious  insinuation  of  a  bribe  t5 
puff  his  book.  I  accepted  his  offer  forthwith,  and  wrote  the  review,  handed 
it  to  him,  and  received  from  him  the  compensation,— he  never  daring  to  look 
over  the  MS.  in  my  presence,  and  taking  it  for  granted  that  all  was  right. 
But  that  review  has  not  yet  appeared,  and  I  am  doubtful  if  it  ever  will.  I 
wrote  It  precisely  as  I  would  have  written  under  ordinary  circumstances, 
and  be  sure  the~re  was  no  predominance  of  praise. 


122  POE  ON  '  THE  POETS  AND  POETRY.' 

Dr.  T  :  Dunn  English,  in  '  The  Independent'  of  5  Nov.  1896, 
describes  the  incident  thus  : — 

But  while  his  occasional  lapses  from  sobriety  may  be  readily  excused, 
his  constant  mendacity  and  deceit  are  capable  of  only  one  explanation.  The 
intellectual  faculties  of  Poe  overbalanced  all  the  rest,  and  the  animal  faculties 
dwarfed  the  moral.  A  reference  to  some  of  his  acts  will  show  that  he  had 
little  sense  of  right  and  wrong  whenever  need  or  resentment  provoked  him, 
and  could  no  more  be  held  responsible  for  many  things  that  he  did  than 
could  a  lunatic  or  an  idiot.  His  audacity  in  asserting  that  I  had  borrowed 
money  from  him  from  time  to  time  when  he,  poor  fellow,  rarely  received 
five  hundred  dollars  a  year  for  his  work,  and  I,  especially  at  the  time  he  lays 
his  charge,  was  in  receipt  of  a  large  salary  and  perquisites  from  official 
sources;  when  all  our  common  acquaintances  knew  the  facts,  shows  that  he 
was  perfectly  reckless  in  his  statements — a  recklessness  only  excusable  on 
the  ground  of  moral  idiocy.  Two  instances  selected  out  of  others  are  quite 
enough,  as  in  these  he  himself  furnishes  the  evidence. 

One  of  these  was  his  obtaining  under  a  false  pretense,  through  Gris- 
wold,  a  sum  of  money  from  the  publishers  of  the  latter's  book,  "  The  Poets 
and  Poetry  of  America."  One  day  in  Philadelphia  Poe  met  me,  and  said : 
"  I  have  a  good  joke  on  Griswold ; "  and  then  proceeded  to  detail  it.  "  I  told 
him,"  said  he,  "  that  I  thought  he  had  made  a  capital  book  of  his  '  Poets  and 
Poetry  of  America,'  and  I'd  like  to  write  a  favorable  review  of  it;  but  I  was 
pressed  for  money,  and  couldn't  afford  the  time.  He  bit  at  the  bait  like  a 
hungry  gudgeon,  and  told  me  to  write  the  notice,  and  as  his  publishers  could 
use  it  he  would  pay  for  them  my  price.  So  I  wrote,  and  handed  it  to  him, 
and  he  paid  me." 

"  Well  ?"  I  asked ;  for  I  saw  nothing  in  that  but  one  of  the  tricks  of 
the  trade. 

"  I  knew  he  wouldn't  read  it  until  he  got  home,"  continued  Poe ;  "  but 
I  should  like  to  have  seen  his  face  when  he  did. " 

"  Wasn't  it  favorable,  then?" 

"Favorable?  Yes,  to  the  amateur  in  scalping.  I  abused  the  book  and 
ridiculed  him,  and  gave  him  the  most  severe  using  up  he  ever  had  or  ever 
will  have,  I  fancy.  I  don't  think  he'll  send  that  to  his  publishers ;  and  I'm 
quite  sure  they  wouldn't  print  it  if  he  did." 

"  It  is  a  good  joke— of  its  kind,"  was  my  answer.  "  You  did  not  keep 
the  money?" 

"  Keep  it?    No,  indeed ;  I  spent  it  at  once." 


THE   DEMOCRATIC  REVIEW.  123 

New  York,  Sept.  8,  1842. 
My  dear  Sir, 

The  recollection  of  my  unperformed  promise  of  sending  you  a 
short  note  on  the  subject  of  the  establishment  and  history  of  the  Democratic 
Review  at  this  moment  recurs  to  me,  and  I  lay  aside  the  occupation  of  the 
hour,  while  the  idea  is  fresh  in  my  mind. 

The  project  of  establishing  a  work  of  this  kind,  to  strike  the  hitherto 
silent  string  of  the  democratic  genius  of  the  age  and  the  country  as  the 
proper  principle  of  the  literature  of  both,  had  often  been  a  subject  of  con 
versation  between  Mr.  Langtree  and  myself,  both  very  young,  very  sanguine 
and  very  democratic.  Being,  as  you  know,  brothers-in-law,  and  resident  in 
Washington,  we  at  last  felt  induced  to  start  it  in  the  fall  of  1837,  the  year  of 
the  total  prostration  of  our  party,  and  the  first  No.  was  issued  in  October  of 
that  year.  Our  resolution  to  undertake  it  had  been  matured  in  the  spring  of 
that  year.  Old  General  Jackson  took  a  great  deal  of  interest  in  it,  and  was 
its  first  subscriber.  More  than  any  other  individual  Mr.  B.  F.  Butler,  an 
intimate  personal  as  well  as  political  friend,  sympathized  with  the  views 
which  animated  us,  and  united  with  us  in  the  counsels  which  resulted  in  our 
determination.  .  .  The  disasters  which  everywhere  at  about  that  period  over 
threw  our  party  stimulated  us  to  strenuous  efforts  to  counteract  the  influ 
ences  that  produced  them.  The  testimony  of  friends  and  foes  was  pretty 
general  that  these  labors  were  very  influential  on  public  opinion.  .  .  The 
truth  is  that  we  spoke  from  convictions  and  feelings  equally  strong  and 
enthusiastic.  Mr.  Langtree  attended  chiefly  to  the  publishing  business ;  the 
political  editorship  was  entirely  mine— the  literary  editing  being  divided 
between  us.  From  inexperience,  dishonest  agents,  widely  extended  credit 
in  the  subscriptions,  and  the  depreciation  and  irregularity  of  the  currency  in 
which  we  received  payment  ( often  at  50  per  cent,  discount )  we  sustained 
very  heavy  losses,  though  with  a  large  circulation,  and  sank  a  great  deal  of 
money.  We  had  expected  to  receive  a  sufficient  amount  of  the  printing 
patronage  of  the  public  offices,  in  accordance  with  the  immemorial  practice 
prevailing  there  of  giving  it  to  political  friends,  to  cover  these  risks  and 
losses  of  the  enterprise ;  but  as  we  never  could  nor  would  take  the  means 
necessary  to  get  this,  and  as,  from  a  proper  delicacy  in  a  matter  of  that  kind, 
Mr.  Van  Buren,  who  could  alone  control  it,  would  not  interfere  to  direct  it 
even  if  we  had  asked  him  to  do  so,  these  expectations  were  for  the  most 
part  disappointed,  and  we  suffered  in  no  slight  degree  in  the  possession  and 
management  of  an  extensive  printing  establishment  through  which  our  pub- 


124  j:  L:  O'SULLIVAN. 

lication  and  business  were  conducted.  .  .  Private  circumstances  led  me  to 
remove  from  Washington  to  the  North  in  the  summer  of  1839  [Mr.  O'Sullivan 
was  appointed  secretary  of  legation  at  Paris  in  June  of  that  year  ]  of  course 
withdrawing  my  active  attention  from  the  work,  though  I  retained  my 
interest  in  it.  So  it  continued  through  1840.  After  this  period,  I  determined 
to  resume  its  publication  and  remove  it  to  New  York.  Being  elected  to  the 
Legislature  ...  I  determined  to  intermit  a  half-year  in  the  course  of  the 
work,  and  to  recommence  in  July  with  a  new  series.  The  Langleys  became 
the  publishers.  In  the  new  series  there  is  a  much  larger  proportion  of  gen 
eral  literary  matter,  though  there  is  a  certain  general  pervading  political 
tinge  or  bearing  through  the  whole  work.  .  .  A  Whig  competitor  started  once 
in  Washington,  but  it  was  in  poor  hands  and  soon  broke  down.  Since  its 
removal  to  New  York,  Mr.  Langtree  has  had  nothing  to  do  with  it.  .  .  Yours, 

J.  L.  O'Sullivan. 

Mr.  J:  L:  O'Sullivan  was  born  in  1813,  and  died,  in  his  82d  year, 
24  March  1895.  Poe  refers  to  him  as  "  that  ass  O'Sullivau,"  but  Hawthorne 
had  a  different  opinion.  The  folloing  lines  ar  abridged  from  '  The  Evening 
Post':— "He  was  born  on  an  English  war-ship  in  the  Bay  of  Gibraltar,  and 
received  his  earlier  education  at  the  military  school  of  Loreye.  He  com 
pleted  his  education  at  Columbia  College.  In  the  Legislature,  he  made  per 
sistent  efforts  to  obtain  the  passage  of  a  measure  abolishing  capital  punish 
ment.  He  was  appointed  minister  to  Portugal  in  1854,  and  relinquished  that 
office  in  1863.  He  afterwards  spent  several  years  in  England  and  France, 
returning  to  New  York  in  1881.  He  was  intimately  associated  with  Haw 
thorne,  and  his  friendship  with  that  author  is  frequently  spoken  of  in 
Bridge's  <  Eecollections  of  Hawthorne.'  "  Mr.  Langtree  died  the  day  this 
letter  was  written. 


New  Orleans,  Sept.  29, 1842. 
Dear  Brother : 

.  .  .  The  Santa  Fe  Expedition  well  nigh  broke  my  constitution, 
but  I  have  some  hope  that  the  wild  breezes  of  Texas  will  soon,  in  a  great 
measure,  restore  me.  There  is  a  little  fun  now  going  on  with  a  few  hundred 
Mexicans,  and  if  we  can  believe  reports  from  Mexico  the  Mexicans  will  give 
us  a  plenty  of  amusement  this  winter.  I  hope  it  will  be  so,  for  if  they 
attempt  to  reconquer  Texas  I  will  have  my  turn  with  the  yellow  skins  and 
show  them  how  good  it  is  to  march  40  miles  a  day.  I  shall  give  them  a  turn 
as  soon  as  I  am  able  to  take  the  field.  I  am  no  soldier  and  can  boast  of  no 


RAYMOND'S  LIFE  OF  CLAY.  125 

uncommon  courage,  but  I  believe  I  can  risk  my  life  in  the  defence  againit 
such  beings  as  Mexicans  with  as  much  nerve  as  almost  any  other  man.  You 
have  probably,  ere  the  receipt  of  this,  seen  the  account  of  their  having  taken 
Bejar,  and  their  determination  to  blockade  all  our  ports.  The  latter  there 
will  be  two  to  talk  about.  Com.  Moore  will  be  out  in  a  few  days,  and  if  the 
Mexicans  show  themselves  in  this  part  of  the  Gulf  you  may  look  for  a  total 
defeat  of  the  Mexican  fleet.  .  .  Yours  truly, 

S.  P.  Griswold. 


New  York,  Oct.  21,1842. 
My  dear  Griswold  :— 

I  will  write  you  the  notice  of  which  you  speak  and  send  it  to  you 
as  soon  as  Wednesday  at  any  rate.  Will  you  want  it  sooner?  I  hardly  know 
in  what  shape  you  want  it — but  will  try  and  suit  you. 

I  have  just  finished  my  Life  of  Clay  for  Swain.  It  makes  198  octavo 
pages.  It  has  been  written  in  haste  and  "  to  order"— but  it  has  merits  of 
impartiality,  of  better  method,  etc.,  which  previous  biographies  have  lacked. 
That  article  in  the  Foreign  Quarterly  [on  the  newspapers  of  the  U.  S.],  I 
suppose,  is  written  by  Dickens  beyond  all  doubt.  .  .  Greeley  is  in  Albany 
preaching  the  Tariff,  though  I'm  sorry  to  say  he  cannot  speak  of  the  "  accept 
able  year"  in  connection  with  it  so  far  as  Clay  is  concerned.  Prof.  [Tayler] 
Lewis  has  be,en  writing  a  pamphlet  about  Government,  but  it  will  not  be  pub 
lished  soon.  He  told  me  about  it  and  wants  to  lecture  it.  .  .  Yours  truly, 

H.  J.  Raymond. 

The  Boston  Miscellany,  I  see,  has  a  good  puff  of  your  Poets  by  Poe. 


In  the  folloing  note  to  Fields,  Mr.  Griswold  refers  to  his  wife's  death. 

196  Clinton  St.,  New  York,  Nov.  10, 1842. 

The  kindness  of  your  former  friendship  leads  me,  my  dear  James,  to 
believe  you  will  sympathize  with  me  in  my  present  terrible  affliction.  .  . 
Five  years  ago  last  March,  since  we  were  married ! 


Newark,  New  Jersey,  Nov.  25, 1842. 
My  dear  Sir  [  Graham  ]  : 

I  have  this  evening  seen  a  copy  of  your  December  number,  and 
I  cannot  avoid  expressing  to  you  my  surprise  at  whatlhave  observed  therein. 
I  know  myself  not  to  be  in  the  least  degree  jealous  of  the  literary  reputation 
of  others,  or  captious  concerning  my  own,  but  the  total  omission  of  all  men- 


126  H:  w:  HERBERT. 

tion  of  my  name  either  in  your  title  page,  whereon  you  have  published  the 
names  of  all  your  principal  subscribers,  or  in  your  editor's  table,  is  so 
remarkable  that  it  is  scarcely  possible  for  me  to  believe  that  it  is  not  inten 
tional.  Its  being  also  coupled  with  the  fact  that  you  have  suppressed  a  story 
of  mine  which  you  have  in  your  hands,  and  which  is  probably  not  inferior  to 
the  bulk  of  your  magazine,  makes  it  the  more  extraordinary.  You  have 
unquestionably  in  your  list  of  contributors  some  two  or  three  names  with 
which  I  have  not  the  presumption  to  class  my  own,  but  with  the  remainder 
of  your  principal  contributors  I  must  claim  at  least  an  equality.  You  must 
pardon  my  requesting  some  explanation  of  this  strange  omission ;  I  have  no 
wish  whatever  to  take  offence,  nor  can  I  conceive  any  motive  on  your  part 
for  wishing  to  hurt  my  feelings,  but  you  must  permit  me  to  say  that  I  cannot 
write  for  any  work  in  which  I  am  considered  a  secondary  writer,  not  worthy 
to  be  classed  with  the  other  contributors ;  and  further  I  believe  that,  both  in 
merit  and  quantity,  my  contributions  to  this  volume  are  superior  to  several  of 
those  set  above  me.  I  understood  moreover,  that  you  had  no  regular  liter 
ary  subscribers  for  the  ensuing  year,  although  this  a  matter  with  which  I 
have  nothing  to  say. 

I  shall  hope  to  hear  from  you  at  your  convenience,  and  have  the  honor 
to  remain,  Your  obedient  servant, 

Henry  Win.  Herbert. 

We  read  with  amusement  of  the  eagerness  with  which  stroll 
ing  actors  gaze  at  the  posters  of  their  troop  to  learn  the  exact 
size  of  type  used  t6  announce  their  names,  but  it  is  uncommon 
for  authors  t6  sho  such  vanity  even  if  they  hav  it.  Two  years 
after  this,  Willis  (  no  other  coultf  have  done  it  with  equal  grace) 
wrote  in  The  Mirror  :  "  The  list  of  contributors  to  Graham  is 
a  particularly  strong  one,  but,  while  touching  it,  may  we  ven 
ture  t6  insinuate  a  suggestion?  It  occurs  t6  us  now,  and  has 
often  occurred  t6  us,  and  t6  others  before.  Authors  are  sensi 
tive  plants, — and  for  this  reason  there  should  be  no  list  of 
principal  contributors.  The  omitted,  rightfully  or  wrongfully, 
will  be  sure  t6  feel  the  sting  of  the  insult." 

Herbert's  career  was  almost  as  wretched  as  that  of  Poe,  and, 


H:  w:  HERBERT.  127 

apparently,  without  the  excuse  of  inability  to  withstand  the 
grosser  temptations.  His  father  (1778-1847)  was  the  third 
son  of  the  earl  of  Carnarvon,  and  he  was  born  in  1807.  He 
came  t6  this  country  in  1831,  and  till  1839  was  teacher  of 
Greek  in  a  private  school.  He  married  twice  in  this  country, 
but  his  second  wife  deserted  him,  and  shortly  after  (17  May 
1858 )  he  killd  himself.  Tho  he  wrote  a  great  number  of 
books, — all  in  this  country — he  is  not  mentioned  in  Beers', 
Hawthorne's,  Pattee's,  Richardson's  or  Underwood's  'Ameri 
can  Literature ;'  his  name  is  to  be  found  in  Sted man's. 


Brooklyn,  Nov.  28th,  1842. 
Dear  Sir : 

I  see  Willis  writing  every  month  for  three  magazines — this 
grasping  disposition  as  you  might  call  it,  or  as  he  and  I  might  designate  it, 
industry— I  thought  was  the  cause  of  his  exclusion  from  Graham's.  I  was 
surprised  therefore  to  see  that  he  is  to  be  a  regular  contributor,  a  monopo 
lizer  of  four  magazines.  Hamilton,  some  time  since,  told  me  Willis  drew 
$1200  per  annum  from  three  periodicals— he  is  likely  to  be  well  informed 
being  editor  of  one  of  them  [ '  The  Ladies'  Companion '  ] .  For  the  future 
we  may  safely  say  when  he  writes  for  Mr.  Graham  that  he  will  draw  $1600, 
or,  say  he  gives  one  up,  then  he  would  have  doubtless  more  than  $1200,  or 
what  does  he  gain  by  the  exchange?  Now  rating  my  merit  to  be  as  com 
pared  with  Willis'  as  6  is  to  12,— that  is  that  I  have  half  the  ability  of  Willis,  I 
find  myself  continually  grumbling  that  I  can  only  earn,  as  hitherto,  at  the 
rate  of  $23  per  month  average,  or  276$  or  280$  per  annum,  not  the  fourth  of 
Willis'  earnings.  .  .  Here  is  another  matter  which  would  go  far  to  make  me 
reconciled  to  restricted  space,  and  that  is,  if  the  payments  were  monthly, 
say  by  the  loth  of  each  month,  three  weeks  after  the  appearance  of  the 
article.  .  .  Yours  very  truly,  Dear  Sir, 

J.  H.  Mancur. 

[Not  even  the  name  of  Mancur  is  now  familiar,  but  he  must  hav  been 
a  writer  of  importance  at  this  time,  for  he  is  among  those  '  principal  contrib 
utors '  whose  honors  Herbert  envied.  The  other  men  authors  in  the  list 
were,  in  this  order,  Bryant,  Cooper,  Dana,  Longfellow,  Hoffman,  and  Fay.] 


128  HILLARD  ON  LONGFELLOW. 

New  York,  Dec.  12th,  1842. 
My  dear  Cousin  [  Mrs.  Osgood  ]  : 

I  enclose  first  number  of  my  new  magazine. 

I  very  much  covet  the  beautiful  poem  you  sent  me  for  my  magazine— 
but  our  expenses  for  plates,  etc.,  at  present  are  so  enormous,  that  I  feel  com 
pelled  t5  reduce  our  editorial  expenses  to  their  lowest  possible  scale — in  fact 
to  get  along  for  a  few  months  as  I  best  can  with  such  articles  as  are  gratuit 
ously  furnished.  I  will  therefore  re-enclose  you  your  piece,  as  I  know  it  is 
worth  to  you,  at  least  its  weight  in  gold.  By  and  by  I  hope  to  offer  you  solid 
inducements  to  aid  me  with  your  contributions.  I  am,  my  dear  cousin, 

Yours  Faithfully, 

Epes  Sargent. 

Boston,  Dec.  19, 1842. 
Dear  Sir : 

I  send  you  herewith  my  paper  on  Longfellow  to  which  you  may 
prefix  such  title  as  you  think  proper.  I  have  spent  a  good  deal  of  time  upon 
it  and  have  written  it  with  much  care,  and  it  has  turned  out  much  longer 
than  I  expected,  but  you  must  contrive  to  find  room  for  the  whole.  In 
regard  to  Compensation,  I  have  only  to  say  that  that  was  by  no  means  the 
motive  from  which  I  wrote,  but  after  having  written  it  for  love,  I  know  not 
why  I  should  not  be  paid  for  it,  and  without  affixing  any  price  to  it,  I  will 
thank  you  to  send  me  such  sum  by  way  of  compensation  as  you  may  think 
proper.  I  also  depend  upon  seeing  a  proof.  .  .  Being  an  intimate  personal 
friend  of  Mr.  Longfellow  I  might  seem  t5  have  spoken  of  him  in  terms  of 
praise  too  strong  for  good  taste.  Yours  truly, 

Geo.  S.  Hillard. 


Dear  Griswold : 

You  cannot  think  how  very  disagreeable  it  is  to  tease  you,  partic 
ularly  when  you  have  been  so  kind  to  me,  but  the  truth  is  that  I  am  very 
poor.  The  little  balance  between  us  for  the  review  .  .  .  would  just  settle 
this.  Pray  do  not  think  me  unkind,  troublesome  you  must  think  me,  but  I 
cannot  help  it.  Ever  Yours, 

H.  W.  H[erbert]. 

My  dear  Sir: 

I  was  very  sorry  not  to  see  you  on  Friday,  and  hope  that  you 
will  give  us  the  pleasure  of  your  company  whenever  you  find  it  convenient 


H:  w:  HERBERT.  129 

t5  do  so,  as  we  always  dine  at  home  and  shall  always  be  but  too  happy  to 
see  you. 

With  regard  to  the  little  ballad,  I  beg  you  to  settle  therefor  definitely 
with  Mr.  Graham  today.  It  is  at  his  service  at  the  price  I  mentioned  to  you 
the  other  day.  My  terms  for  that  which  I  write  are  necessarily  in  these  hard 
times  cash  on  delivery,  dealing  as  I  am  dealt  with— and  allowing  due  time 
for  examination  of  the  article  I  must  abide  by  it. 

Unfortunately  for  me  my  pen  is  strictly  my  profession,  and  when  I  am 
in  want  of  money  ( instead  of  drawing  a  draft )  I  write  an  article,  and  if  I 
cannot  sell  it  to  one  I  can  to  another  at  better  or  worse  terms. 

I  enter  into  these  little  explanations  to  you,  which  I  would  not  of 
course  do  except  to  a  friend,  and  to  excuse  myself  from  the  appearance  of 
importunity,  and  further,  in  plain  English,  these  Publishers  show  no  indul 
gence  in  money  matters  to  us  authors  and  I  cannot  to  them.  .  .  Yours  Ever, 

Henry  Wm.  Herbert. 


My  dear  Griswold : 

The  cause  of  my  wishing  to  see  you  was  as  follows.  We  are 
invited  tonight  to  a  great  ball  and  f£te  champetre  at  Woodvale  Cottage  and  I 
am  particularly  anxious  to  take  Sarah  to  it,  as  it  is  the  only  gaiety  she  has 
had  an  opportunity  of  seeing  this  winter,  and  as  I  am  very  glad  of  an  occa 
sion  of  her  being  introduced  a  little  into  society  here. 

I  cannot  however  manage  this  without  a  little  ready  money  of  which  I 
am  at  this  moment  utterly  short.  .  .  My  object  was  to  entreat  you  to  devise 
some  means  of  advancing  me  the  loan  of  ten  dollars  until  Monday  next  on 
which  day  I  can  most  certainly  repay  you.  Ever  Yours, 

Henry  Wm.  Herbert. 

January  1, 1843. 
Dear  Griswold : 

I  have  obtained  for  you  a  copy  of  Mrs.  Smith's  "Captive."'  It 
was,  you  know,  written  some  years  since,  but  only  printed  within  the  last 
two  or  three.  I  think  it  shows  in  many  parts  the  promise  of  the  remarkable 
powers  she  has  since  developed,  and  is  daily  maturing.  As  for  good  grounds 
to  put  her  in  the  book — the  fact  of  so  few  of  her  things  having  been  collected 
into  a  volume,  I  think,  has  nothing  to  do  withjlt.  That  is  an  affair  of  Book 
sellers,  not  of  Editors.  It  belongs  t5  the  trade  of  publishing,  not  the  art  of 
writing. 


130  E.  .    CAKES   SMITH. 

I  yesterday  looked  over  a  bundle  of  her  printed  articles  which  would 
fill  several  volumes,  though  less  than  half  of  what  she  has  written.  Her  finest 
tale  is,  I  think,  " The  Flower  Girl  of  Antioch"  (in  the  Opal).  Her  most 
original  one  "Machineton"  while  "  The  Love  Quarrel,"  differing  as  much 
from  both  of  them  as  they  do  from  each  other,  makes  a  remarkable  trinity  of 
varied  powers  in  this  department  of  art.  Her  "  Riches  Without  "Wings," 
one  of  the  first  of  those  little  books  for  young  people  which  have  since  be 
come  so  popular,  still  continues  to  run,  T  am  told,  side  by  side  with  the  best 
of  them.  Yet  how  different  the  style  and  object  of  this  little  treatise  from 
those  of  her  multitudinous  essays ! 

No,  I  think  the  author  of  "Riches  Without  Wings,"  "The  Sinless 
Child  "and  "The  Western  Captive"  (three  regular  volumes)  upon  the 
score  of  delicate  humor  alone,  the  rarest  trait  among  American  authors, — 
will  have  no  occasion  to  feel  awkward  on  your  list. 

Why,  Charles  King,  one  of  the  most  fastidious  critics  I  know,  thought 
"  The  Witch  of  Endor"  "perfectly  sui  generis,"  and  I  should  like  to  know 
another  woman  in  the  country,  (or  man  out  of  it  since  Charles  Lamb  is 
dead  )  who  could  have  written  "  the  Sentiment  of  Friendship."  See,  too,  the 
graceful  and  tender  metaphysics  of  the  "  Sentiment  of  Self  Sacrifice."  I 
send  you  herewith  all  of  these  pieces,  and  I  have  tried,  but  in  vain,  to  get  her 
essay  on  "Egypt,"  which  for  richness  and  fullness  of  language  and  descrip 
tion  would  make  a  fine  oriental  accompanyment  of  "  The  Flower  Girl  of 
Antioch."  I  have  been  unable  to  get  either  of  her  papers  upon  Shakspere, 
which,  though  unsatisfactory  from  their  brevity,  are  singularly  happy.  I  do 
hope  you  will  find  room  for  all  I  have  mentioned,  for  "fame  is  money"  to 
an  author,  and  so  much  industry  and  so  much  desert  with  all  the  surround 
ings  so  uncheering  make— but  I  know  your  feelings  about  this  matter— and 
that  the  fact  of  Mrs.  S.  having  none  of  those  advantages  of  position  which 
enable  her  to  command  a  publisher,  and  being  therefore  compelled  to 
"  utter  "  herself  in  the  magazines,  derogates  with  you  in  no  way  from  her 
claims  as  an  approved  woman  of  genius.  Thine  ever, 

[C.  F.  Hoffman.] 


Poe,  as  well  as  Hoffman  and  C :  King,  held  a  high  opinion 
of  Mrs.  Smith's  merits  ;  but  it  may  well  be  doubted  any  of  the 
forgotten  writers  of  Griswold's  graveyard,  as  his  "Poets  "  has 
been  aptly  calld,  is  more  totally  forgotten.  That  she  was  an 


E.  .   OAKKS   SMITH.  131 

interesting  character  is  evident  from  the  obituary  notice  pub- 
lishd  in  the  local  paper  of  Patchogue,  Long-Island,  24  Novem 
ber  1893: 

The  modest  announcement  of  the  death  of  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Oakes  Smith 
and  her  burial  in  Patchogue  Sunday  would  not  suggest  to  the  casual  reader 
that  the  varied  life  of  one  of  the  most  extraordinary  women  of  the  century 
had  at  last  gone  out. 

When  only  sixteen  years  of  age,  at  the  time  she  was  married  to  Seba 
Smith,  she  contributed  poems  to  the  magazines,  and  later  on  achieved  a  na 
tional  reputation  as  an  authoress  and  lecturer.  She  and  her  husband  came 
here  about  1860.  .  .  Mrs.  Smith  was  a  woman  of  aristocratic  mien  and  a 
woman  of  surpassing  talent  not  always  directed  to  noble  ends.  She  stopped 
at  nothing  in  carrying  out  her  plans.  All  was  not  lovely  in  the  family  circle, 
and  when  the  gallant  Mr.  Smith  died  here  in  1868  his  wife  refused  to  come  to 
his  death  bed.  When  she  married  him  she  objected  to  the  name  of  Smith 
and  wanted  him  to  change  it,  but  he  refused  to  do  so,  saying  it  was  good 
enough  for  him.  When  her  children  were  born  she  got  a  special  permit  from 
the  Legislature  to  change  the  names  to  Oaksrnith.  Her  four  sons  married 
and  the  mother  had  a  lively  time  in  running  the  four  household  t5  suit  her 
self.  Alvin  married  a  Spanish  lady  in  Monte  Video,  but  he  maltreated  her 
so  shamefully  that  the  law  stepped  in  and  separated  them,  giving,  however, 
all  the  children  to  their  father.  Afterward  they  all  ran  away  from  him  and 
returned  to  their  mother.  Strange  to  relate,  Alvin  and  his  wife  are  now  liv 
ing  together  in  Maryland,  having  recently  met  and  agreed  to  let  the  dead 
past  bury  the  dead. 

Appleton  Oaksmith,  the  gentlemanly  desperado,  highly  educated,  and 
a  man  of  daring  projects,  was  a  picturesque  figure  during  the  stirring  times 
of  the  war.  He  is  said  to  have  owned  several  slave  vessels  and  to  have 
scuttled  one  with  tw5  hundered  slaves  on  board  when  pursued,  while  he 
escaped  on  his  consort  ship.  He  was  captured  at  Fire  Island,  while  waiting 
for  the  bark  Augusta  which  was  supposed  to  be  fitted  out  for  a  slaver.  He 
was  in  Fort  Lafayette,  Fort  Warren  and  the  Boston  jail.  While  in  Lafay 
ette  an  interesting  story  is  told  of  how  his  mother  visited  the  Commandant 
to  plead  for  her  son.  She  denied  every  thing  and  refused  to  believe  the 
charges  against  her  boy.  At  last  Gen.  Burke  losing  his  patience  said,  "  Well 
madam  if  you  don't  believe  it  look  at  the  positive  proof  in  those  papers." 
Mrs.  Smith  took  them,  called  the  general's  attention  to  something  and  coolly 


132  E.  .   OAKES  SMITH. 

threw  them  into  the  fire,  saying,  "  Well,  general,  if  these  papers  are  proofs 
we  will  burn  them."  [A  good  story,  but  why  should  the  commandant  of  a 
fort  hav  such  papers?]  Appleton  escaped  from  the  Boston  jail  and  a  great 
furor  was  occasioned  throughout  the  country  by  the  rumor  that  a  fellow 
Mason  had  helped  the  prisoner  escape.  It  was  thought,  however,  that  the 
woman  he  afterwards  married  gave  him  assistance.  It  is  said  that  Mrs. 
Smith  appealed  to  Lincoln  to  pardon  Appleton  but  he  refused  to  do  so. 
When  Lincoln  was  shot  Mrs.  Smith  said  she  was  glad  of  it  and  that  J.  Wilkes 
Booth  was  a  gentleman.  Some  place  a  good  deal  of  credence  in  the  state 
ment  that  possibly  Edward  Oakesmith  was  one  of  the  conspirators  who 
assassinated  Lincoln.  After  the  war  Appleton  was  prominent  in  the  South, 
representing  the  New  Berne  district  in  Congress.  He  died  some  years  ago. 

Madam  Oakes  Smith  was  a  prominent  figure  in  Patchogue  history  dur 
ing  the  time  she  lived  here.  She  was  interested  in  all  the  enterprises  of  the 
town,  and  at  one  time  was  Critic  of  the  Patchogue  Lyceum.  She  gave  the 
Band  Boys  a  grand  supper,  and  distributed  blankets  and  rubber  coats  to  the 
army  boys,  who  were  about  to  go  to  the  front.  When  Appleton's  schemes 
fell  through,  and  the  family  became  impoverished,  they  lived  in  the  little 
"  green  house,"  but  she  never  lost  her  queenly  bearing,  even  though  her 
throne  was  nothing  but  a  soap  box.  So  notorious  became  the  actions  of 
Appleton,  in  the  interests  of  the  South,  while  her  sympathies  became  so 
antagonistic  to  the  sentiment  of  the  community,  that  audiences  would  leave  a 
hall  if  she  arose  to  speak.  The  schemes  she  carried  out  in  separating  her 
sons  and  their  wives,  and  in  cruelly  taking  the  latter's  children  away,  would 
make  rich  material  for  a  sensational  novel.  .  . 

The  history  of  the  family  would  make  a  book  of  intense  interest. 
Whatever  their  opinions  of  the  character  of  the  Madam  every  one  agrees 
that  intellectually  she  was  the  most  remarkable  woman  they  ever  knew. 
About  1876  the  Madam  went  South,  to  Hollywood,  N.  C.,  and  afterward  re 
turned  and  resumed  her  literary  work.  About  1888  she  again  went  to  Holly 
wood  and  died  there  last  week  Thursday.  .  .  After  a  varied  life  of  87  years 
this  strange  woman,  who  had  many  friends,  and  whose  intense  affection  for 
her  sons  was  her  chief  virtue,  was  buried  unattended  by  a  single  mourner. 


New  York,  Jan.  5, 1843. 
Dear  Griswold : 

You  left  me  very  abruptly  when  you  were  last  here,  when  I  was 
expecting  to  have  a  farther  conversation  with  you,  much  to  my  disappoint- 


HORACE  GREKLEY.  133 

ment.  .  .  I  had  seen  Atwell  at  New  Haven  some  days  before,  and  learned  of 
him  your  intention  to  go  to  Europe  next  Spring. 

Today  I  met  at  dinner  at  our  house  Mrs.  Ann  S.  Stephens,  a  lady  of 
your  sometime  acquaintance,  and  learned  from  her,  (  by  getting  up  a  sham- 
fight  with  her  in  regard  to  your  merits  and  starting  her  temper  a  little )  that 
she  is  very  intimately  apprised  of  the  internal  politics  of  your  office  by  some 
good  friend  in  Philadelphia.  I  learned  from  her  not  only  that  you  were  to 
leave  for  Europe  in  March,  but  that  Graham  would  edit  the  Magazine  him 
self  after  that  time;  but  she  evidently  anticipates  having  her  finger  very 
prominently  inserted  in  one  corner  of  it.  All  this  is  none  of  your  business 
nor  mine;  I  know  you  will  have  too  much  sense  to  say  anything  to  Graham 
about  it;  and  if  any  letter  is  written  to  Philadelphia  relative  to  my  criticisms 
on  Graham,  Peterson,  Weld  [now  editor  of  Graham's  'Post'],  etc.,  you 
simply  know  nothing  of  the  matter.  I  was  only  curious  to  know,  like  Paul 
Pry,  how  much  this  lady  knew  of  your  business,  and  how  she  came  to  know 
it.  I  was  satisfied.  After  you  have  gone,  I  will  help  Mr.  Graham  to  see  the 
difference  in  his  circulation  between  your  editing  and  his.  Say  nothing. 

Write  me  a  line  to  say  what  you  think  of  doing,  how  and  why ;  and 
when  you  will  be  here.  How  does  the  '  Poets '  travel  off?  I  am  deeply 
interested  in  that.  .  .  You  must  have  small  editions  of  that  book  printed, 
revising  and  extending  it  every  year,  so  as  to  keep  it  the  Poets  for  ten  years 
yet.  .  . 

I  want  you  to  prepare  for  me  before  you  leave  the  country  an  edition 
of  Praed's  Poems,  with  a  Biography;  and  I  will  get  it  published  somehow  if 
I  have  to  run  in  debt  for  it.  Can  you  add  to  it  The  Poems  of  Barry  Corn 
wall?  I  mean  to  get  them  printed  here  yet.  Is  there  anything  you  think  of 
that  you  would  like  to  get  published?  Can  you  pick  up  any  materials  for  a 
Life  of  Randolph  in  Philadelphia?  But  don't  trouble  yourself  about  this, 
for  very  likely  I  shall  never  attempt  it. 

Now,  Gris,  write  me  as  promiscuous  a  letter  as  this — directly,  mind— 
and  let  me  realize  that  you  are  still  in  the  Land  of  the  Living. 

I  have  finished  my  Lecture  on  'Human  Life'  to  my  liking.  It  has 
some  criticisms  on  Education  that  I  know  you  would  like,  and  is  fearless  and 
dashing  throughout.  I  suppose  I  can  never  get  a  chance  to  Lecture  in 
Philadelphia,  and  I  don't  care;  for  Lecturing  is  said  to  be  down  at  the  heel 
there.  .  .  Yours, 

H.  Greeley. 


134  G:  R.   GRAHAM. 

Philadelphia,  Jan'y  8th,  1843. 
Frances  S.  Osgood,  Dear  Madam : 

...  I  sometimes  wish  that  I  had  gone  on  quietly  in  my  little  law 
office,  using  my  pen  modestly  as  a  writer  for  a  few  more  years,  instead  of 
embarking,  on  the  stormy  sea  of  publishing,  heart  and— I  sometimes  fear- 
Soul.  I  do  not  expect  I  should  have  made  much  more  in  the  world,  either 
as  a  lawyer,  or  a  writer,— certainly  I  should  not  as  both— for  I  had  a  happy 
faculty  of  shoving  off  the  responsibilities  of  one  onto  the  shoulders  of  the 
other,  but  I  fancy,  I  should  have  had  more  moments  of  delight  than  can  be 
possibly  stolen  from  the  bustle  of  an  active  and  successful  business  life.  Do 
you  know,  that  among  my  forty  thousand  readers,  there  are  but  few,  and 
among  several  score  of  agents,  there  are  none,  who  do  not  think  a  publisher 
bound  to  answer  all  their  impertinence,  as  well  as  to  furnish  them  books  for 
their  money? 

If  you* should  see  me,  with  from  30  to  40  business  letters  daily,  on  an 
average,  before  me  to  read  and  answer,  you  would  not  only  understand  the 
necessity  of  my  turning  over  all  proper  correspondence  to  others,  but  would 
pity  as  well  as  forgive  me. 

I  have  written  you  a  long  letter  as  a  sort  of  atonement  for  a  very  short, 
and  I  fear,  as  I  have  no  copy,  a  tart  one  to  Mr.  Osgood.  Will  you  explain  to 
him,  and  give  him  my  respects.  .  .  Yours  truly, 

Geo.  R.  Graham. 

I  shall  be  happy  t5  receive  stories  at  $25.,  and  poetry  at  $10.  per  arti 
cle,  one  or  the  other  monthly. 


Tribune  Office,  Jan.  10, 1843. 
Dear  Gris : 

Only  a  word :  Mac  [  Elrath  ]  and  I  think  of  publishing  an  Edi 
tion  of  d'Israeli's  Curiosities  of  Literature  in  numbers  next  summer.  Will 
you  just  do  us  $100  worth  of  work  toward  the  Curiosities  of  American 
Literature  as  an  Appendix?  The  manner  and  length  will  be  pretty  much 
as  you  choose.  Please  do  it  before  you  leave  for  Europe,— the  money  may 
be  a  comfort  to  you  at  some  odd  spell.  I  know  you  will  be  here  soon,  but  I 
thought  you  might  want  to  ransack  something  in  Philadelphia  first.  There 
is  no  hurry;  take  your  time,  even  if  it  runs  int5  your  voyage,  unless  you 
would  like  the  money  sooner.  It  shall  be  paid  on  the  receipt  of  the  MS.  .  . 

Yours, 

H.  Greeley. 


LONGFELLOW,  PAULDING.  135 

Cambridge,  Jan.  10, 1843. 
My  dear  Sir: 

I  am  sorry  I  have  not  a  portrait  by  Cheney  in  readiness.  Must 
the  engraving  be  ready  for  the  April  No.?  Would  the  delay  of  a  month  or 
two  make  any  difference  t5  Mr.  Graham? 

As  soon  as  I  received  your  letter  I  went  into  town  to  see  Cheney.  He 
is  confined  by  indisposition ;  and  I  do  not  know  when  he  can  get  the  likeness 
ready.  Let  us  not  do  the  matter  in  haste.  .  I  certainly  do  not  wish  to  have 
Thompson's  head  engraved  again.  My  friends  all  dislike  it;  and  I  am 
anxious  now  to  have  something  that  will  please  them.  I  will  therefore  have 
a  portrait  painted  at  my  own  expense,  and  as  soon  as  possible.  Will  you 
wait?  and  not  hurry  the  matter?  If  you  can,  we  shall  get  something  worth 
having.  Do  you  prefer  Parker  to  Cheney  as  an  Engraver? 

I  fear  I  can  send  you  nothing  for  the  March  No.  but  will  send  a  poem 
as  soon  as  I  can.  I  have  several  in  my  mind;  but  have  not  yet  felt  in  the 
right  mood  to  put  them  upon  paper. 

Thanks  for  your  word  about  the  "  Poems  on  Slavery."  I  hope,  how 
ever,  you  have  said  nothing  to  injure  your  Magazine ;  for  I  should  be  sorry 
to  do  that;  and  I  did  not  think  you  would  like  to  speak  of  the  book  in  any 
way.  Very  truly  yours, 

Henry  W.  Longfellow. 

New  York,  31st  Jan'y,  1843. 
Dear  Sir, 

...  I  frankly  confess,  I  don't  like  Mr.  Cooper's  agreement  with 
you,  and  though  having  expressed  myself  willing  to  be  placed  on  the  same 
footing  with  him,  I  am  bound  to  stand  to  my  word,  yet  I  would  much  prefer 
the  original  terms  proposed,  namely : — ten  dollars  a  page  for  all  contribu 
tions,  within  the  compass  of  five  pages,  or  not  exceeding  it,  and  five  dollars 
a  page  for  all  over  that  number ;  by  which  I  understood  that  the  former 
sum  was  to  be  allowed  for  the  first  five  pages,  and  the  latter  for  the  remain 
der;  not  that  the  whole  should  be  averaged  at  Five  Dollars.  I  don't  know 
now,  whether  t5  understand  you  so  or,  not;  but  will  express  myself  fully 
and  frankly  on  the  subject. 

It  is  my  design,  while  I  remain  in  my.  present  state  of  idleness,  to 
devote  my  leisure  hours  to  your  Magazine  exclusively,  though  I  may  possi 
bly  occasionally  apply  them  to  other  objects  not  interfering  with  this.  It  is 
therefore  my  wish  to  contribute  an  article  to  every  number,  t5  be  regularly 


136  CAPTAIN  JESSE   D.   ELLIOTT. 

inserted,  if  transmitted  in  time,  and  approved  by  you,  as  containing  nothing 
unfit  for  a  respectable  periodical,  or  which  may  probably  injure  its  circula 
tion.  I  am  in  the  habit  of  condensing  my  ideas  in  few  words,  and  it  will  be 
seldom  my  articles  exceed  four  or  five  pages;  and  for  all  within,  or  not 
exceeding  that  limit,  I  should  prefer  being  paid  the  price  you  settled  at  our 
first  interview.  For  all  beyond  this  limit  you  may  allow  what  you  please. 
The  last  article,  and  one  on  a  somewhat  similar  subject,  will  considerably 
exceed  five  pages,  and  the  same  rule  may  be  applied  to  these.  After  that,  I 
shall  probably  seldom  transgress  in  this  way.  I  am  Dear  Sir,  Your  Friend 
and  Servant. 

J.  K.  Paulding. 


West  Chester,  Feb'y  3,  1843. 
Chas.  R.  Grayham,  Esq.,  Dear  Sir: 

I  did  not  distinctly  understand  at  the  short  conversation  of  Mr. 
Cooper  and  Mr.  Griswold  on  the  morning  of  Mr.  Cooper's  departure  for 
home,  at  what  time  his  article  [  ?]  in  answer  to  Mr.  Kinsey's  life  of  Perry 
and  of  [illegible]  Burgess's  Lecture  on  the  battle  of  Lake  Erie  would  appear 
in  your  Saturday  Courier.  It  is  my  wish  to  have  a  copy  sent  to  each  member 
of  the  Legislature  of  the  two  states  of  Pennsylvania  and  New  York  with 
many  other  persons  both  in  and  out  of  our  Country.  .  .  I  have  neither  seen 
the  manuscript,  nor  the  Diagrams  which  Mr.  Cooper  informed  me  would 
accompany  them,  thus  I  can't  be  charged,  as  in  the  compilation  of  his  Naval 
History,  of  dictating  to  him.  Had  I,  surely  I  would  not  have  placed  myself 
on  board  the  '  Madison'  of  which  ship  I  was  flag  captain,  then  drawing  too 
much  water  to  join  in  the  attack  on  the  batteries  [  ?]  After  landing  Pike 
and  his  Brigade,  500  of  which  I  had  on  board  my  ship,  I  volunteered  to  lead 
in  all  the  schooners  to  the  assault  of  the  Batteries  in  the  Conquest,  did  so, 
and  lost  one  fine  young  officer  killed,  Hatfield  [  ?  J  of  Albany,  and  four  men 
wounded,  here  we  were  opposed  to  the  fire  of  the  Forts  on  beating  up  to  the 
head  of  the  Harbor,  and  when  fired  on  were  called  on  patiently  to  brave 
[illegible].  Would  not  a  Knowledge  of  this  fact  tend  t5  fix  the  seal  of 
falsehood  indelibly  on  McHenry?  Be  pleased  to  mention  this  subject  to  my 
old  friend  Mr.  Weld.  Very  Respectfully  Yours, 

J.  D.  Elliott. 

[Jesse  Duncan  Elliott,  second  hi  command  at  the  battle  of  Lake  Erie. 
Cooper  ascribed  to  him  a  larger  share  in  the  victory  than  other  writers  had 
done.  He  died  in  1845.  ] 


K.    H.    WILDK.  137 

New  York,  Feb.  4, 1843. 
Dear  Sir : 

You  requested  m.e  some  months  since  to  furnish  you  with  an 
occasional  contribution  for  the  magazine  of  which  you  are  editor.  Having 
just  finished  a  poem  of  some  hundred  and  fifty  or  sixty  lines,  I  venture  to 
make  you  the  first  offer  of  it,  though  not  as  a  gratuity.  It  has  cost  me  some 
considerable  time,  and  not  a  few  "  poetic  pains,"  to  render  it  worthy  your 
magazine ;  and  though  I  should  be  sorry  to  be  deemed  a  mercenary — a  mere 
mercenary — rhymer,  yet  these  are  trying  times,  and  certain  little  folks  at 
home  must  be  cared  for.  .  . 

W.  P.  Palmer. 


Providence,  Feb.  5,  1843. 
[To  Mrs.  Osgood]  : 

Do  you  see  the  Boston  Pioneer?  It  is  very  fine.  I.  B.  Wright 
is  W.  W.  Story.  I  have  lately  written  two  or  three  "  Sketches"  which  have 
been  published — but  am  too  much  ashamed  of  them  to  let  you  see  them.  .  .  I 
am  yours, 

H.  Fuller. 


Washington,  6  Feb.  1843. 
Dear  Sir  : 

.  .  .  My  contributions  to  journals,  reviews  and  magazines  have 
always  been  gratuitous.  I  have  not  time  for  such  engagements,  and  shall 
soon  have  less  than  ever,  for  1  am  about  to  change  my  residence  and  resume 
my  profession,  a  source  of  income  too  important  to  be  neglected  in  the  pres 
ent  depressed  state  of  the  country,  when  all  property  is  unproductive. 

The  uninterrupted  and  laborious  course  of  study  which  my  new  career 
will  require  on  a  theatre  [  Louisiana]  and  under  a  system  of  law  utterly 
unfamiliar,  must  necessarily  cut  my  literary  amusement  off  at  once  and 
entirely.  It  might  very  possibly  be  years  ere  I  take  pen  in  hand  for  any 
such  purpose,  even  to  finish  the  '  Italian  Lyrics'  or  the  '  Life  and  Times  of 
Dante. '  Under  such  circumstances  all  I  can  do  to  evince  my  sense  of  your 
too  flattering  interest  in  my  pursuits,  is  to  send  you  the  enclosed  specimen  of 
the  former,  a  brick  from  the  edifice,  which  may  perhaps  be  built  into  the 
pages  of  your  magazine  without  disturbing  its  symmetry.  .  . 

You  are  mistaken  in  supposing  the  bill  has  passed  allowing  me  a  copy 
right  altho'  my  work  should  first  be  published  in  England. 


138  '     HOFFMAN  ON  MAGAZINE  LITERATURE. 

It  has  merely  passed  the  Senate.  Whether  it  will  go  thro'  the  ordeal 
of  the  House  I  know  not  and  since  it  became  apparent  that  I  must  devote  all 
my  time  to  other  occupations,  it  has  ceased  to  interest  me.  .  . 

Very  truly  yours, 

R.  H.  Wilde. 


New  York,  Feb.  10,  1843. 
Dear  Griswold : 

I  am  pained  to  have  you  write  so  about  your  health.  "  Death," 
as  you  say,  may  be  "  no  unwelcome  friend  of  yours."  But  your  living 
friends  think  so  much  more  of  you  than  he  can  that  he  has  no  claim  upon 
our  hospitality  or  good  feeling.  Death  and  you  friends !  The  proposition  's 
absurd.  Think  only  of  the  lives  you  have  attempted,  and  the  many  more 
you  will  yet  succeed  in  taking !  You  are  rivals,  man  !  and  must  keep  as  far 
aloof  from  each  other  as  possible. 

Seriously,  though,  you  are  just  at  the  period  of  life  when  a  man's  con 
stitution  changes,  and  if  you  fight  the  next  18  months  through  with  a  stout 
heart,  you  will  live  to  be  as  burly  as  a  Bishop,  and  publish  at  80, "  Griswold's 
Recollections  of  His  Own  Times."  "  This,"  says  a  review  of  1890,  "  is  one 
of  the  most  curious  works  that  the  venerable  and  respected  author  has  given 
to  the  public.  The  two  or  three  great  poems  which  the  present  generation 
has  produced  has  not  made  us  unmindful  of  that  genial  glow  of  letters  which 
suffused  the  face  of  the  country  during  the  youth  and  memorable  early  man 
hood  of  the  illustrious  writer.  Poetry  seems  then  to  have  been  so  univer 
sally  the  language  of  sentiment  that  the  semi-fabulous  stories  of  the  Italian 
improvisatori  of  a  former  age  became  almost  realized  in  that  springtime 

season  of  our  yet  nascent  Republic.  .  .  Perhaps,  indeed,  no  fraction  of  the 

• 
present  work  will  more  interest  the  philosophical  reader  than  Mr.  Griswold's 

curious  account  of  the  sudden  and  wonderful  growth  of  that  periodical  liter 
ature  which  now  constitutes  the  greater  portion  of"  American  letters.  Our 
readers  must  examine  for  themselves  to  see  how  this  venerable  authority 
disposes  of  the  much  vexed  question  whether  or  not  his  associate  Graham 
was  really  the  founder  of  a  system  of  publication  [  See  page  36]  which  pro 
duced  such  wonderful  results,  or  only  attained  his  present  celebrity  by  con 
veying  it  farther  than  others.  As  is  the  case  with  all  other  distinguished 
names  we  think  it  can  be  shown  that  much  of  Graham's  reputation  is  owing 
to  circumstances  of  which  he  had  the  energy  and  ability  to  take  advantage. 
Mr.  G.  admits  that  in  the  year  1842  his  famous  magazine  had  not  yet  attained 


HORACE  GREKLKY.  139 

a  circulation  of  above  100,000  copies.  It  was  at  time  merely  a  work  of  taste 
and  entertainment,  but  early  in  the  year  1843  a  now  forgotten  publication 
which  we  learn  from  these  memoirs  was  entitled  "The  Lady's  World  of 
Fashion "  having  attempted  to  compete  with  him  in  the  matter  of  fictional 
illustration,  he  instantly  took  new  and  stronger  ground  and  became,  through 
his  vigorous  corps  of  contributors,  the  leader  of  literary  opinion  instead  of 
the  successful  follower  of  public  taste.  It  would  seem  that  at  that  time  there 
was  really  no  other  acknowledged  organ  of  literary  opinion  in  the  country, 
and  the  coolness  with  which  Graham  seized  upon  the  position  and  the 
almost  miraculous  success  with  which  he  maintained  it  has  indissolubly 
interwoven  his  name  with  the  existence  of  American  letters."  Ever  yours, 

C.  F.  H[offman]. 

P.  S. — Do  send  me  that  [Saturday]  Museum.  I  had  so  much  fun  in 
laughing  at  the  first  one  that  I  must  see  the  second.  .  .  If  funds  are  floating 
about  you  I  wish  you  would  send  me  $25.  I  owe  my  cook  for  the  last  dinner 
I  gave  to  poor  critics,  and  my  banker  is  out  of  town. 


New  York  [22  Feb.,  1843.] 
Dear  Griswold : 

The  hand  of  Affliction  is  upon  me.  I  have  had  one  of  the  hard 
est  sieges  over  a  l  cold '  as  it  is  called,  I  ever  heard  of;  and  now  I  have  a 
severe  ear-ache,  a  constant  ringing  in  the  ear,  and  a  general  debility  which 
causes  me  to  fear  that  I  shall  be  compelled  to  break  my  appointment  in 
Philadelphia.  The  left  side  of  my  head  is  all  one  maze  and  crowd,  as  though 
it  had  been  struck  by  the  falling  wall  of  a  house;  and  I  have  been  operating 
upon  it  for  days  with  no  hope  as  yet.  I  still  hope  that  a  tumor  in  my  ear 
will  break  by  tomorrow,  and  thus  enable  me  to  fulfil  my  Philadelphia 
appointment ;  if  not,  God  help  me !  You  know  how  anxious  I  am  to  im 
prove  this  opportunity,  which  has  occurred  so  accidentally,  and  which  may 
never  be  renewed.  .  . 

How  could  you  go  off  without  seeing  me?  Yours, 

H.  Greeley. 


Dorchester,  Feb.  24, 1843. 
Deaj  Sir, 

Would  anything  I  could  write,  either  in  prose  or  rhyme,  be  con 
sidered  worth  printing  and  paying  somewhat  for,  by  the  editors  of  Graham's 
Magazine?  I  send  a  thing  ( which  has  amused  my  wife,  at  whose  suggestion 
it  was  written )  as  a  sort  of  sample,  which,  if  you  want  it  you  may  have  for 


140  WRIGHT  AND  LA  FONTAINE. 

whatever  you  think  it  is  worth.  I  am  so  little  acquainted  with  Graham's 
Magazine,  that  I  hardly  know  whether  I  am  doing  a  thing  mal  apropos  or 
not. 

Have  you  seen  the  extermination  1  have  met  with  at  the  hands  oi  the 
New  York  Observer?  It  has  finished  old  Jean  and  me  at  one  blow,  and 
when  my  flesh  quivered  a  little  after  death,  then  the  pious  editor  raised  his 
serpent-crushing  heel  and  trod  into  the  dust  my  mortal  remains. 

So  I  am  doubly  dead.  If  you  have  seen  or  can  see  these  papers  ( Jan. 
14  and  Feb.  4th  )  and  can  say  anything  anywhere  in  favor  of  my  resurrection, 
I  shall  be  much  obliged  to  you  t5  do  so.  Observe,  you  are  in  the  same  con 
demnation.  You  are  one  of  my  "endorsers"  and  the  Observer  has  a  rod  in 
pickle  for  your  special  use.  You  must  look  out  or  you  will  be  squelched — or 
perhaps  you  will  be  set  upon  the  dunce-block  with  a  split  pen  upon  your 
nose, — or  perhaps  you  will  have  your  nose  rubbed  in  your  own  article  in 
which  you  recommended  the  "  filthy"  fables  of  La  Fontaine  for  the  young! 
Bah !  It  was  in  the  Evening  Post  that  I  ventured  to  say  a  word  in  my  own 
behalf.  The  Observer  itself  was  far  too  pure  and  pious  to  admit  a  reply  from 
my  corrupt  pen.  I  have  sent  another  piece  to  Bryant  which  he  will  prob 
ably  insert. 

For  the  present,  the  Observer  has  frightened  away  my  customers  very 
much.  I  am  going  to  expurgate,  but  with  very  little  hope  of  satisfying  my 
censors  who  seem  to  have  the  gift  of  smelling  obscenity  afar  off.  .  .  Very 
respectfully  and  cordially  yours, 

Elizur  Wright,  Jr. 
[The  "thing"  was  probably  the  poem  calld 

A  Eulogy 

On  the  Great  Unknown  Mr.  John  Frost 
which   was  publishd  in  the  magazine  for  March,  1844.  ] 

It  was  about  this  time  that  Griswold's  acquaintance  with 
Taylor  began.  The  latter,  we  ar  told  in  Scudder's  Life,  "had 
published  several  poems  in  the  '  Saturday  Evening  Post '  .  .  .  and 
out  of  the  correspondence  with  Mr.  Griswold  there  came  the  first 
literary  friendship  which  the  young  poet  formed.  When  writing 
in  March,  1843,  t6  a  school  friend,  he  speaks  with  a  shy  and 
happy  pride  of  the  little  opening  which  he  had  made : — '  I  have 
met  with  strange  things  since  I  wrote  last.  Last  November  I 


BAYARD  TAYLOR.  141 

wrote  t6  Mr.  Griswold,  sending  a  poem  t6  be  inserted  in  the 
'Post'  [ond  by  Graham,  and  edited  in  connection  with  his 
magazine  ] .  However,  I  said  that  it  was  my  highest  ambition 
to  appear  in  '  Graham's  Magazine.'  Sometime  ago  I  got  an 
answer.  He  said  he  had  read  my  lines  '  To  the  Brandywine,' 
which  appeared  in  the  '  Post',  with  much  pleasure,  and  would 
have  put  them  in  the  magazine  if  he  had  seen  them  in  time. 
He  said  the  poem  I  sent  him  would  appear  in  April  in  the  mag 
azine,  and  requested  me  to  contribute  often  and  t6  call  on  him 
when  I  came  t6  town.  I  never  was  more  surprised  in  my  life.' 
Mr.  Griswold  was  one  of  the  literary  magnates  in  that  thin  but 
promising  period  of  our  literature.  He  was  editor  of  the  lead 
ing  literary  magazine,  he  had  edited  "  Poets  and  Poetry  of 
America,"  and  if  his  dimensions  have  shrunk  in  the  course  of 
time  he  was  then  an  important  personage,  wh6se  advice  and 
help  were  sought  and  valued.  T6  Bayard  Taylor  he  was  a 
serviceable  friend  just  when  the  young  author  desired  intro 
duction  t6  the  larger  world  of  literature,  and  he  helped  him  to 
the  publication  of  his  first  volume  of  verse.  *  I  called  on 
Griswold, '  he  writes  October  10,  1843,  '  and  had  an  interview 
with  him.  He  had  part  of  a  Romance  in  poetry  [  '  Rosalie,' 
renamed  '  Ximena '  ]  which  I  have  been  writing,  and  strongly 
advised  me  t6  publish  it  with  my  other  poems  in  a  volume.  I 
have  it  nearly  done, — about  a  thousand  lines ;  I  have  not  con 
cluded  whether  t6  d6  so  or  not.  .  .  I  place  great  confidence  in 
his  judgment."  It  appeared  in  February  1844.  "It  was  dedi 
cated  to  Rufus  W.  Griswold,  as  an  expression  of  gratitude  for 
the  kind  encouragement  he  has  shown  the  author." 


14:2  GREELEY, FIELDS. 

New  York,  April  6, 1843. 
R.  W.  Griswold,  Dear  Sir: 

I  regret  to  say,  what  you  will  doubtless  have  heard  before 
directly,  that  Ralph  W.  Emerson  has  concluded  not  to  deliver  his  Lectures 
in  Boston  till  next  Fall,  and  so  declines  t5  let  his  Introductory  be  printed  in 
your  Magazine  at  present.  This  is  too  bad,  but  how  can  I  help  it?  He 
wrote  me  to  this  effect  yesterday.  I  suppose  I  am  more  vexed  than  you  are, 
but  I  had  set  my  heart  on  your  having  it,  and  am  sorely  disappointed. 

I  wish  iny  own  lecture  on  '  Human  Life '  would  answer  instead,  but  it 
won't.  Some  parts  of  it  would  read  well ;  others  are  unfitted. 

I  have  threatened  to  write  a  Sketch  of  the  leading  Transcendentalists, 
after  the  manner  of  John  Neal ;  but  I  don't  know  that  I  could  make  it  attract 
ive.  Yet  Emerson,  and  Bronsbn  Alcott  and  Margaret  Fuller  are  great  char 
acters  if  a  body  could  only  bring  them  out  in  bold  colors.  If  I  were  not  t5 
be  known  as  the  writer,  I  could  do  a  tall  thing;  but,  being  known,  I  should 
be  very  apt  to  fail.  So  let  it  go.  Yours, 

Horace  Greeley. 


Boston,  April  12th,  1843. 
My  Dear  Griswold : 

My  heart  beat  as  the  familiar  hand  writing  of  my  old  friend  met 
my  eye  at  the  Post  Office  just  now,  and  I  hasten  to  say,  this  very  hour,  that 
so  far  from  your  being  forgotten  by  me,  there  is  not  a  day  during  some  part 
of  which  your  name  is  not  mentioned  at  the  Corner.  Forgotten  !  no  indeed 
never  for  a  moment !  .  .  . 

We  are  about  as  usual  here.  H.  T.  T.  is  in  N.  Y.  and  Whipple  is 
writing  clever  articles  for  the  papers.  Often,  very  often  we  talk  of  you  and 
how  much  we  wish  to  see  you  cannot  be  written  down  in  ink.  Ever  Yours, 

J.  T.  F[ields.] 


New  York,  May  1, 1843. 
Dear  Sir : 

I  am  extremely  obliged  t5  you  for  your  kind  notice  in  the  Maga 
zine,  and  for  your  very  friendly  letter.  .  .  I  was  afraid  that  some  of  the 
piratical  publishers,  who  abound  in  these  days,  might .  .  .  get  out  a  very 
incorrect  edition. 

I  thank  you  for  the  good  opinion  so  courteously  expressed  in  your 
letter.  Of  course,  I  am  perfectly  aware  what  is  the  reason  that  I  am  not 
invited  to  write  for  the  popular  periodicals  of  the  day ;  for  it  requires  no 


LYDIA  MARIA  CHILD,— E.   A.   POE.  143 

extraordinary  vanity  to  suppose  that  I  could  write  better  articles  than  some 
who  are  invited. 

But  this  effect  of  unpopularity  is  no  inconvenience  to  me;  for  I  could 
not  write  for  such  publications  if  I  were  ever  so  much  urged.  Life  is  grow 
ing  too  earnest  with  me  to  admit  of  my  writing  "  pretty  stories. " 

The  Letters  probably  will  not  be  out  till  the  middle  or  last  of  June;  as 
I  am  obliged  to  be  out  of  the  city  a  few  weeks.  Yours  very  gratefully  and 
respectfully, 

L.  M.  Child. 

A  somewhat  different  tone  is  struck  in  a  letter  from  Poe's 
friend  Wilmer  t6  a  Mississippi  poet  named  Tomlin  : — 

Philadelphia,  May  20, 1843. 
Dear  Sir : 

I  have  not  heard  from  you  for  several  weeks.  J  sent  on  in  vari 
ous  packages,  a  dozen  copies  of  Recantation  which  I  hope  came  to  hand. 
Any  numbers  of  that,  or  the  "  Quacks"  are  always  at  your  service. 

Literary  affairs  are  at  a  very  low  ebb  in  this  city  at  present.  Sumner 
Lincoln  Fairfield,  who  once  ranked  high  among  the  writers  of  our  country, 
has  become  a  common  loafer  about  the  streets.  It  is  distressing  to  view  such 
a  change. 

Edgar  A.  Poe  (you  know  him  by  character,  m>  doubt,  if  not  person 
ally),  has  become  one  of  the  strangest  of  our  literati.  He  and  I  are  old 
friends, — have  known  each  other  since  boyhood,  and  it  gives  me  inexpressi 
ble  pain  to  notice  the  vagaries  to  which  he  has  lately  become  subject.  Poor 
fellow !  he  is  not  a  teetotaller  by  any  means,  and  I  fear  he  is  going  headlong 
to  destruction,  moral,  physical  and  intellectual. 

T.  S.  Arthur,  another  old  friend  of  mine,  has  acquired  great  popular 
ity  by  a  certain  kind  of  writing  and  is  getting  along  prosperously. 

The  "  Philadelphia  Clique"  as  it  is  called,  composed  of  Robt.  C.  Con 
rad,  R.  Morris,  J.  C.  Neale  and  several  others,  has  seen  its  palmiest  days  and 
is  falling  into  disrepute; — their  association  to  hold  each  other  up  will  not 
avail  them.  Jos.  C.  Neale,  nevertheless,  is  a  man  of  splendid  talents,  and 
Conrad  has  some  excellent  points;  but  the  political  unpopularity  of  the  latter 
affects  his  literary  reputation.  Neale  is  indolent. 

My  next  publication  will  be  "  Preferment."  a  political  satire,  not  par 
tisan  or  very  slightly  so.  Much  of  it  is  already  written  and  I  expect  to  bring 


144  E..  OAKES  SMITH,— HAWTHORNE. 

it  out  sometime  within  the  present  year.    Favor  me  with  a  few  lines  when 
ever  you  have  time  to  waste.    Your  obliged  and  sincere  friend, 

L.  A.  Wilmer. 


New  York,  June  12,  '43. 
Dear  Griswold  : 

.  .  .  Mrs.  Oaksmith's  story  was  also  duly  attended  to— what  a 
grand  affair  it  is !  Most  affluent  in  language,  most  finished  in  expression. 
She  must,  according  to  your  prophecy,  take  a  stand  out  of  hooting  distance 
of  any  other  of  our  writing  women.  That  is  if  her  constitution  be  strong 
enough  for  the  necessary  mechanical  labor  of  triumphant  authorship.  .  . 

Ever  yours  truly, 

0.  F.  H[offman]. 


Concord,  July  2d,  1843. 
My  dear  Sir, 

There  is  a  mistake  as  to  my  having  refused  t5  write  for  Graham's 
Magazine;  the  truth  is,  I  have  heretofore  had  no  opportunity  to  refuse,  even 
had  I  been  so  inclined — your  own  letter  being  the  first  intimation  that  any 
contributions  might  be  acceptable. 

I  am  never  a  very  diligent  penman  in  the  summer  time;  and,  more 
over,  I  had  projected  a  little  work  for  children  as  this  summer's  literary 
labor  and  amusement,  which  is  still  t5  be  begun.  I  have  likewise  one  en 
gagement  to  fulfill  for  a  Magazine,  before  I  can  undertake  any  other  of  the 
kind.  These  matters  being  first  disposed. of,  I  shall  be  very  willing  to  send 
you  an  article,  and  will  agree  to  the  terms  you  propose,  rather  than  take 
upon  myself  to  settle  the  marketable  value  of  my  productions. 

I  am  advised  that  the  publishers  of  Magazines  consider  it  desirable  to 
attach  writers  exclusively  to  their  own  establishments,  and  will  pay  at  a 
higher  rate  for  such  monopoly.  If  this  be  the  case,  I  should  make  no  diffi 
culty  in  forswearing  all  other  periodicals  for  a  specified  time— and  so  much 
the  more  readily,  on  account  of  the  safety  of  your  Magazine  in  a  financial 
point  of  view.  Should  you  desire  an  arrangement  of  this  kind,  be  pleased, 
at  your  leisure,  to  state  the  terms  of  it.  I  hope  to  free  myself  from  other 
engagements  by  October,  at  furthest,  and  shall  then  be  happy  to  become  one 
of  your  contributors.  With  much  respect,  truly  yours, 

Nath.  Hawthorne. 


L.  A.  GOBRIGHT.  145 

It  would  appear  from  the  above  that  Hawthorne  had  a  very 
short  memory.  We  ar  iuformd  by  Mr.  Albert  H.  Smyth,  in 
his  book  on  Philadelphia  Magazines,  that  "  Lowell  was  a  sub 
ordinate  editor  of  the  magazine  [Graham's]  as  early  as  1843, 
and  in  April  of  that  year  communicated  t6  Nathaniel  Hawthorne 
the  desire  of  the  editor,  Edgar  Allan  Poe,  that  he  too  should 
become  a  contributor."  Mr.  Smyth  further  tells  us  that 
*'  Hawthorne  included  many  of  his  early  contributions  to  this 
magazine  in  his  Twice  Told  Tales."  This  shos  great  industry 
on  Hawthorne's  part,  for  he  was  not  askd  t6  contribute 
(Smyth)  before  April  1843  (  or,  himself ,  June  1843),  while 
the  second  and  last  series  of  Twice  Told  Tales  was  publishd 
in  1842.  The  Student  is  under  obligations  t6  Mr.  Smyth,  also 
for  discovering  that  Poe  edited  the  magazine  in  1843,  and  that 
Lowell,  at  any  time,  was  his  assistant. 


Washington,  August  4, 1843. 
Dear  Griswold : 

Perhaps  you  will  remember  an  old  acquaintance  when  you  glance 
your  eye  at  the  bottom  of  this,  or  at  the  top  of  the  opposite  page.  I  know 
you  will,  and  therefore  I  can,  with  the  utmost  propriety,  ask  you  t5  publish 
the  lines  herewith  sent,  in  Graham's  Magazine.  But,  in  the  first  place,  I 
should  have  consulted  your  judgment,  for  which  I  have  much  respect.  You 
know  that  when  we  lived  together,  "  long  time  ago,"  I  used  to  carpenter  a 
little  in  verse.  I  d5  little  of  it  now,  for  various  reasons.  The  lines  before 
you  were  written  by  request  of  a  friend,  somewhat  reluctantly,  I  confess; 
for  I  feared  that  I  might  mar  beauty,  or  "  blot  the  rainbow."  But  what's 
the  use  of  all  this  talk.  If  you  think  the  humble  lay  worthy  of  an  obscure 
corner  in  your  able  magazine,  please  let  it  appear.  If  you  reject  my  attempt, 
please  return  it  to  me  as  soon  as  you  shall  have  considered  about  the  matter 
and  compared  it  with  the  scripture. 

I  should  be  pleased  t5  receive  a  letter  from  you  at  any  time.    Yours 
respectfully, 

L.  A.  Gobright. 


146  HOLMES,— BERANGER. 

Boston,  Sept.  1st,  1843. 
My  dear  Sir: 

I  read  a  Poem  at  the  dinner  table  of  the  Phi  B6ta  Kappa  at  Cam 
bridge  the  other  day  which  I  should  like  to  publish  in  Graham's  Magazine  if 
the  Editors  want  it  and  are  willing  to  pay  for  it. 

It  consists  at  present  of  166  lines  in  the  heroic  measure — but  I  should 
be  inclined  to  make  it  about  two  hundred,  or  very  nearly  that,  by  certain 
additions.  I  believe  that  for  me  it  was  remarkably  happy,  but  you  may 
think  it  no  great  thing.  At  any  rate  it  has  more  point  in  it  than  most  things 
of  the  kind  I  have  done  lately. 

Tw5  or  three  weeks  ago  Mr.  Frost,  on  the  part  of  Godey's  Lady's 
Book,  made  me  some  liberal  offers  for  anything  I  would  give  him.  I  ans 
wered  that  I  felt  bound  to  offer  them  to  you  first  but  without  the  least  idea 
that  I  should  so  soon  have  anything  to  publish.  I  therefore  mention  it  to  you 
and  end  my  proposals  with  these  questions. 

1.  Do  you  want  such  a  poem? 

2.  What  will  you  give  me  for  it? 

3.  Are  you  afraid  of  a  hit  at  repudiation  in  it? 

4.  Can  it  be  published  in  your  Magazine  *'  word  for  word,  letter  for 
letter,  comma  for  comma?" 

5.  Do  you  want  to  see  it  before  you  meddle  with  it? 

This  is  a  very  straight-forward  business  letter,  and  does  not  require 
any  answer  unless  you  want  the  Poem.  If  so  I  shall  hear  from  you.  Be 
lieve  me  very  truly,  Your  Friend, 

O.  W.  Holmes. 

P.  S. — No  tender  feelings  are  concerned  which  might  interfere  with 
Editorial  interests. 

[  The  poem,  then  calld  '  Terpsichore,'  appeard  in  the  magazine  for  Jan 
uary  1844. ] 


New  York,  Nov.  13, 1843. 
R.  W.  Griswold,  Esq.,  Old  Friend, 

I  want  to  thrash  you  for  the  way  you  have  done  Beranger  [  pub- 
lishd  by  Carey,  148  pages] .  O  Gris.,  you  have  not  taken  sufficient  time  with 
that  work!  Your  choice  of  translations  is  often  dreadful.  'The  Garret' 
kills  me.  Jo  Price's  version 

— '  espying  the  world  with  its  sages  and  asses, 

In  a  Garret  at  twenty  how  cheerly  time  passes ! ' 
ie  worth  a  million  of  that  you  have  given. 


MARIA  BROOKS.  147 

Then  '  My  Old  Coat,'  *  And  part  shall  we  never,  my  trusty  old  Friend ! ' 
by  Falconer  is  better  than  that  you  give. 

So  Falconer's  *  My  Vocation '  is  probably  less  faithful  but  a  great  deal 
more  spirited  than  the  one  you  have. 

So  « The  Cossack'  ( '  Come  forth,  my  proud  steed,' )  is  better  than  the 
one  you  have.  Where  is  '  Gauls  and  Franks,  Close  your  ranks ! ' 

*  A  song  for  Bonaparte  returned  from  Elba?'  Gris.  you  must  not  get 
up  books  so  jobbingly.  You  never  will  get  above  journeyman's  wages  unless 
you  amend.  O  if  you  only  caught  me  once  reviewing  you  in  right  earnest, 
you  would  imagine  your  hide  was  off  and  you  in  a  hogshead  of  brine.  Now 
if  B6ranger  goes  to  a  second  edition  you  must  mend  it.  I  will  [illegible]  it 
if  you  don't. 

What  about  Praed?  As  he  is  English,  you  haven't  a  chance  t5  show 
your  bad  taste  or  carelessness  by  choosing  wrong  translations.  But  you  may 
omit  something,  and  completeness  is  vital.  Don't  overlook  the  gem  of  all 
'  Josephine '  .  .  . 

As  to  letters,  let  us  have  them  as  soon  as  may  be.  About  half  a  col 
umn  in  length — spirited  and  lively,  but  not  spiteful.  Satirize  Society  and 
customs,  if  you  must,  but  don't  touch  individuals.  Two  a  week  will  be 
about  right.  Yours, 

Horace  Greeley. 


Fort  Columbus,  New  York,  Dec.  12,  1843. 
Dear  Sir: 

.  .  .  My  fever  of  last  summer,  with  many  other  circumstances, 
has  prevented  me  from  doing  much  that  I  wished  t5  do  in  this  country ;  if 
however,  you  will  d5  me  the  favor,  sir,  of  attending  a  little  to  it,  I  will  en 
deavor  to  forward  a  bill  of  exchange  after  my  arrival  for  the  purpose  of 
getting  out  an  edition  of  "  Idomen  "  either  in  Philadelphia  or  Washington. 
The  Harpers  say  "  it  is  too  elevated  to  sell" — an  expression  which  is  rather 
libelous  to  the  American  public.  I  think,  however,  it  will  be  read  if  proper 
means  are  taken.  .  .  I  do  not  think  that  any  effort  of  my  humble  imagination 
can  be  "  too  elevated,"  or  even  elevated  enough,  for  the  better  part  of  the 
public  as  it  really  is  in  these  North  American  States,  but  I  absolutely  know 
that  my  little  works  have  been  nearly  suppressed  by  the  vilest  impositions 
which  can  possibly  be  practiced. 

In  the  words  of  poor  Spurzheim  (  which  were  uttered  a  very '  short 
time  before  his  death  occurred  in  New  England  )   I  solace  myself  by  saying, 


148  MARIA  BROOKS. 

"  stupidity !  stupidity !  the  knowledge  of  that  alone  has  saved  me  from  mis 
anthropy  ! " 

I  feel  for  you  sir,  a  sincere  gratitude  on  account  of  your  having  taken 
pains  to  see  me  in  person  after  having  read  a  few  of  the  effusions  of  my  soli 
tude.  Whatever  I  may  write  to  you  in  private  letters  you  are  at  perfect 
liberty  to  publish  ( in  case  you  may  wish  to  do  so  );  I  look  upon  myself  as  a 
being  out  of  this  world,  yet  in  it  at  the  same  time.  The  few  pleasures 
accorded  to  me  have  been  absolutely  heavenly  in  their  natures ;  and  in  all 
the  creation  of  this  world,  there  is  scarcely  a  pain  which  my  heart  has  not 
proved,  either  in  reality  or  apprehension. 

If  Heaven  permit  me  to  arrive  safely  at  Cuba,  I  may  commit  to  paper 
my  epic  poem,  which  I  now  call  '  Beatrix,  the  beloved  of  Columbus; 'if 
death  come  before  the  completion  of  my  intention,  what  exists  only  in  my 
mind  will  of  course  be  naught,  and  the  little,  the  very  little,  I  leave 
will  be  so  spoiled  and  mutilated  by  this  steam-eng«ine  generation  as  t5  be 
good  for  nothing  to  those  who  may  respire,  afterwards,  the.  breath  of  the 
land  where  I  was  born.  From  the  Heavenly  powers,  alone,  comes  all  that 
is  possible  on  earth !  That  these  powers  may  protect  and  make  you  happy  is 
the  heartfelt  wish  of  Sir,  your  obedient  servant, 

Maria  Brooks. 

P.  S.— Mr.  Wordsworth  has  sent  to  this  country  for  all  the  letters  of 
the  late  Dr.  Robert  Southey,  and  particularly  mentioned  those  few  in  my 
possession.  I  cannot  part  with  the  originals;  for  it  soothes  me  whenever  I 
read  them ;  but  I  have  just  got  copies  of  them  made.  .  . 

"  *  Zophiel,  or  the  Bride  of  Seven,'  is  by  far  the  most  original 
poem  that  this  generation  has  produced.'  So  said  (writes 
Andrew  Lang,  in  1896)  the  British  Poet  Laureate,  the  late  Mr. 
Robert  Southey.  The  author  of  '  Zophiel '  was  Mrs.  Brookes 
of  New  England.  Remembering  all  this,  I  [Lang]  turned  eager 
ly  t6  Professor  Brander  Matthews' '  Introduction  t6  the  Study  of 
American  Literature  '  in  search  of  facts  about  *  The  Bride  of 
Seven '  ...  for  Southey  did  not  praise  all  poetry  at  random  .  .  . 
Therefore  it  is  extraordinary  that  Professor  Matthews  leaves 
'  Zophiel '  out  of  his  *  Introduction  '  in  which  I  expected  '  The 


MARIA  BROOKS.  149 

Bride  of  Seven  '  (  what  a  woman  )  t6  be  the  most  conspicuous 
jewel.  Mrs.  Brookes,  of  New  England,  is  not  in  the  Index; 
not  with  Priscilla  Alden,  Charles  H.  Farnham,  John  Jay,  E.  P. 
Whipple  and  the  other  literary  swells  [Priscilla  Alden  ^literary 
character  !  ]  I  call  it  cruel !  I  demand  justice  for  Mrs. 
Brookes  and  '  The  Bride  of  Seven.'  " 

A  very  interesting,  (chiefly  because  of  its  original  letters  )  tho 
fragmentary,  account  of  Mrs.  Brooks,  by  Mrs.  Zadel  Gnstafson, 
was  publishd  in  Harpers'  Magazine  in  1879. 


New  York,  Jan.  24,  '44. 
My  dear  Griswold : 

...  I  really  have  a  great  curiosity— no,  an  interest— to  see  you 
just  at  this  moment.  How  go  the  sentimentalities?  How  the  women  have 
affected  your  condition  it  irks  me  to  know.  They  handle  all  of  us  hardly 
enough,  but  God !  when  they  get  hold  of  a  chap  of  your  poetic  temperament 
they  use  him  up  completely — at  least  for  a  while.  But  it  is  in  that  interval, 
those  off  days  of  the  ague  of  female  bedevilment,  that  you  .  .  .  doth  the  most 
work.  A  capital  relief  you  have  from  the  excitement  [of]  Turning  round 
at  once  to  attempt  peoples'  lives.  How  many  biographies  have  you  written  ? 
But  I  won't  say  a  word  more  lest  you  forget  that  this  is  a  business  letter, 
although  from  lack  of  change  it  will  cost  you  a  shilling.  Ever  yours  truly, 

C.  F.  Hoffman. 

P.  S. — I  received  lately  a  letter  from  Mr.  Graham  which  I  have  de_ 
ferred  answering  only  because  I  wished  to  write  to  him  at  length.  The  story 
he  asks  for  shall  be  forthcoming. 

C.  F.  H. 


New  York,  Jan.  27,  '44. 
My  dear  Griswold : 

1  was  just  roaring  over  an  article  in  the  Foreign  Quarterly  upon 
"  The  Poets  and  Poetry "  when  I  received  your  melancholy  letter.  I  pray 
you  turn  to  that  paper  at  once  and  it  will  put  you  in  good  humor.  John 
Bullism  in  perfection  is  to  me  always  the  most  amusing  thing  in  the  world. 
My  bump  of  benevolence  is  unfortunately  so  great  that  fond  as  I  am  of  the 
grotesque,  human  absurdity  more  often  awakens  compassion  than  fun  in  me. 


150  THE   KOREIGN  QUARTERLY  ON  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

I  feel  greater  pity  than  diversion  at  Don  Quixote's  troubles,  but 
the  fanatical  conceit  of  a  real  Sancho  Panzoac  Englishman  is  to  me  always 
delicious.  I  have  only  as  yet  read  the  first  part  of  the  article  as  copied  ( "  to 
be  concluded ")  into  the  New  World.  Bryant  tells  me  that  I  get  a  more 
savage  mauling  than  anyone  else  in  the  article.  I  plagiarize,  it  seems,  from 
Tom  Moore !  a  devilish  good  fellow  to  steal  from :  shows  my  taste.  I  won 
der  they  don't  appreciate  him  more  in  that  way  at  home.  Hope  the  article 
will  bring  Moore  int5  notice  there.  I  must  tell  you  though,  that  this  mad  Bull 
— who,  with  the  most  solemn  unconsciousness  lashes  his  brother  Briton,  of 
the  13".  Y.  Herald,  for  writing  with  the  same  choice  reserve  of  language  that 
he  himself  uses— this  mad  Bull,  I  say  [illegible]  upon  our  capital  while 
thrusting  his  horns  into  you :— "  Mr.  Griswold  admits  that  in  America  util 
ity  was  all  in  all  at  the  beginning  and  Poetry  nothing.  They  began  at  the 
wrong  end  !  In  all  other  countries  poetry  appears  first  and  utility  afterward, 
the  slow  fruit  of  necessity  and  experience." 

But  you  must  read  the  article, — 'tis  the  best  advertisement  of  your 
book  yet  out,  for  the  fellow  abuses  the  country  so  roundly  that  the  people, 
roused  to  a  discriminating  ire,  must  at  last  take  the  Poets  under  their  protec 
tion,  as  a  part  of  themselves.  Here's  a  remark  that  will  show  you  the  fel 
low's  frantic  stupidity.  "This  journal  failed,  and  Freneau  went  to  sea  in 
command  of  a  Merchant  vessel;  qualification  being  as  little  required  in  com 
manding  an  American  vessel  as  in  writing  American  poetry."  Ah,  my 
nervous  friend,  our  corners  are  rubbed  off  so  in  this  country  by  habitual 
attrition  with  emigrants  from  every  nation  that  we  should  not  judge  these 
redoubtable  islanders  too  harshly.  Yet  I  admire  your  boldness  in  going  as 
missionary  among  them— what  in  God's  name  can  you  do  for  them?  Take 
them  out  of  their  mechanicism  and  shop-keeping,  and  they  are  of  Beotian 
stupidity.  Genius,  transcendant  as  it  has  been  there,  is  but  an  excrescence, 
refinement  but  a  veneering,  neither  of  them  permeating  or  forming  any 
essential  part  of  the  coarse  grained  character  of  the  noble,  useful  and  most 
powerful,  but  most  ungenial  race  that  the  world  has  ever  produced.  You 
should  ask  your  friend  Herbert  about  this  matter  before  you  go  there.  Any 
Englishman  of  Rank  (that  is,  belonging  to  the  "  excrescency "  or  the 
"  veneery  "  )  will  tell  you  the  same  thing  when  put  upon  his  "  voir  dire  " 
over  a  cup  of  mononghelela,  though  he  might  fight  you  the  next  morning  for 
reminding  him  of  it.  .  .  Ever  yours, 

H[offman]. 


THE  ENGLISH  CHARACTER.  151 

This  article  in  '  The  Foreign  Quarterly '  attracted  great 
attention.  Lowell  comments  on  it  in  a  letter  to  Poe  dated 
"Elmwood,  June  27,  1844"  :— 

...  I  agree  with  you  that  the  article  on  Griswold's  book  iii  the  Foreign 
Quarterly  Review  was  fair  enough  as  far- as  the  conclusions  the  author  came 
to  were  concerned — though  at  the  same  time  I  think  him  as  ignorant  in  poet 
ical  matters  as  a  man  can  well  be — in  short  ignorant  to  the  full  to  be  a 
Reviewer.  But  you  are  mistaken  as  to  the  authorship  of  it.  It  was  not  (I 
am  quite  sure)  written  by  Dickens,  but  by  a  friend  of  his  named  Forster  (  or 
Foster )  —the  author  of  a  book  named  "  Statesmen  of  the  time  of  Cromwell." 
Dickens  may  have  given  him  hints.  Forster  is  a  friend  of  some  of  the  Long 
fellow  clique  here  which  perhaps  accounts  for  his  putting  L.  at  the  top  of 
our  Parnassus.  These  kinds  of  arrangements  do  very  well,  however,  for  the 
present.  .  . 


[Boston,  12  Feb.  1844. 
Fields  to  Grisvvold.  ] 

Distant,  secluded,  down  in  the  isle  of  Manhattan,  lives  Rufus  the  thought 
ful! 
Into  the  hands  of  the  parson  from  Newport  many  days  since  placed  he  a 

letter 
For  one  he  regardeth.    The  Doctor,  fat,  fruitful,  forgetful,  failed  then  to 

deliver  it. 
But  coming  to  Boston  on  business  parochial  he  took  from  his  pocket  the 

glorious  hexameters. 
Thanks  reverend  and  learned!  Thanks  most  grave  and  most  potent! 

thanks,  Gallic  Translator! 

I  thought  thee  dead, — dead,  Rufus,  and  Doge-like  declined  to  the  dust,  Sir. 
But  at  sight  of  thy  writing  I  leaped  like  a  man  in  a  mad  fit. 
Sometime  in  the  Spring,  that  is  coming  upon  us  I  go  to  the  city, 
The  city  of  New  York.    There  hoping  to  meet  thee,  and  pour  in  thy  bosom 
Fresh  comfort  and  whiskey,  we'll  talk  of  old  times,  Rufe 
And  banish  our  sorrow.    Bespeak  me  some  oysters  and  hot  steaks  from 

Florence, 
Some  liquor  Falernian  and  fixin's  to  match  them.    Adieu,  Gentle  Doctor, 

we  meet  at  Phillippi. 


152  MAGAZINE  RATES. 

Philadelphia,  10  April,  1844. 
Mrs.  F.  S.  Osgood,  Dear  Madam : 

...  I  cannot  really  aftbrd  to  pay  my  new  ones  more  than  I  pay 
Miss  Orne,  Miss  Davenant,  and  indeed  all  my  other  writers,  except  you  and 
Mrs.  Stephens,  wh5  are  above  all  rule.  For  prose  I  give  them  $2.00  per 
printed  page :  for  poetry  $5.00  a  poem.  This  is,  perhaps,  no  remuneration 
for  them ;  but  it  is  all  the  publishers  here,  excepting  Graham,  give,  and  all 
we  can  afford.  .  .  Very  respectfully, 

Chas.  J.  Peterson. 


New  York,  Apr.  20,  '44. 
My  dear  Sir : 

.  .  .  What  a  warm,  earnest  and  excellent  friend  that  gentlemanly 
young  Janvier  is  of  yours.  If  you  can  get  a  woman  to  understand  you  as 
thoroughly,  and  be  at  the  same  time  as  really  attached  as  he  is,  you  will  not 
have  loved  the  sex  in  vain. 

Tuckerman  and  I  have  both  taken  to  him  exceedingly.  I  pray  you 
write  soon  to  Yours  ever, 

C.  F.  Hoffman. 

Miss  Smith,  a  sister  of  Thomas  H.  Smith,  connected  with  the  N.  Y. 
Hospital,  long  a  distinguished  merchant  and  member,  subsequently,  of  the 
legislature,  and  as  an  author  connected  with  Wm.,the  brother  of  Wash. 
Irving,  who  was  tw5  terms  in  Congress. 

The  Morning  Chronicle,  projected  in  1802  by  Dr.  Irving,  was  long 
marked  for  the  elegance  of  its  manner,  its  literary  tone,  and  indeed  occupied 
a  position  not  unlike  that  of  Mr.  Charles  King's  '  American '  in  a  subsequent 
period.  Among  the  contributors  to  the  Chronicle  were  many  who  afterward 
became  eminent. 

Irving  published  here  his  "Oldstyle"  Letters,  Paulding  his  first 
•essays,  and  Dr.  James  Smith,  the  brother  of  the  historian,  imitated  Auacreon 
in  clever  epistles  to  women  and  wine. 

But  the  chief  star  of  the  Chronicle  was  a  lady  who  wrote  under  the 
signature  of  "Clara",  and  she  was  as  celebrated  there  as  "Amelia  "or 
"  Norma  "  or  "  Kate  Cleveland  "  have  ever  been  since.  This  was  Miss  Smith, 
who  married  Mr.  Will  Lucius  Rose,  wh5se  irregular  habits  brought  him  to 
beggary,  and  for  his  abilities  and  his  connections  with  the  old  associates  of 
other  Burrites,  waa  connected  in  sympathy  with  the  Burr  faction. 


THE   PROTESTANT   REVIEW.  153 

The  marriage  of  Miss  Smith  was  not  a  happy  one,  and  it  is  unneces 
sary  here  to  lift  the  veil  from  her  domestic  life  further  than  to  disclose  her 
subsequent  divorce  from  Rose,  intimacy  and  marriage  with  the  late  Justice 
Wyman.  She  died  within  the  past  two  years. 


New  York,  June  11, 1844. 
My  Dear  Griswold : 

.  .  .  Don't  sneer  at  my  ruled  paper— Tis  the  latest  "  fashion,"  as 
Willis  may  perhaps  tell  the  world  in  his  lecture  tonight  on  that  Estate  at  the 
Tabernacle.  I  do  hope  you  have  not  abandoned  the  idea  of  coming  to  live  in 
Brooklyn.  'Tis  delightful  there  now  though  we  really  miss  Janvier;  cool, 
fragrantly  airy,  and  no  mobs !  I  am  really  in  a  state  of  anxiety  in  expecta 
tion  of  a  paragraph  like  this : — 

"  Signal  vengeance  and  irremediable  devastation !  The  destruction  of 
Dr.  Moriarty's  library  wounded  most  deeply  the  literary  sensibilities  of  our 
Irish  population,  and  though  from  policy  hitherto  silent  upon  the  subject, 
we  have  rightly  anticipated  such  a  catastrophe  as  that  which  it  is  our  sor 
rowful  duty  to  have  to  commemorate. 

The  valuable  library  of  the  Reverend  R.  W.  Griswold,  the  distinguish 
ed  Protestant  clergyman,  who  lately  abandoned  all  his  other  literary  labors 
t5  devote  himself  to  an  anti-Catholic  Review  [The  Quarterly  Review  of  the 
American  Protestant  Association:  Phil'a,  Hooker.]  was  last  night  con 
sumed  by  an  Irish  mob.  The  light  from  the  blazing  books  and  MSS. 
illuminated  the  Delaware  and  part  of  Chestnut  Street,  and  was  seen  by  every 
train  within  a  mile  of  Philadelphia.  We  regret  to  hear  that  Mr.  G.  was  slightly 
injured  by  throwing  himself  into  the  scene  of  devastation.  It  seems  that 
some  of  the  most  precious  MSS.  were  kept  in  a  bathing  tub,  and  attempting 
to  gain  the  house  through  the  back  way,  his  hands  were  terribly  cut  while  in 
the  act  of  dashing  in  the  windows.  The  presence  of  mind  of  his  friend 
D.  H.  Janvier,  Esq.,  in  seizing  him  by  the  skirts  of  his  coat  at  this  instant, 
alone  prevented  the  Reverend  Gentleman  from  being  smothered  by  the 
tainted  smoke  which  at  once  poured  through  the  aperture. 

N.  B.— Since  writing  the  above  we  learn  that  at  least  one  half  of  Mr. 
G's  MSS.  are  safe.  They  were  in  the  pockets  of  old  coats,  hats,  etc.,  left 
from  time  to  time  at  the  houses  of  friends.  We  need  not  say  that  all  good 
citizens  should  frown  upon  this  not  unprovoked  but  somewhat  disorderly 
conduct  of  our  generous  but  somewhat  excitable  adopted  citizens.  The 


154  COOPER'S  GENIUS. 

exemplary  character  of  our  beloved  city  must  ultimately  suffer  from  these 
occasional  outbursts  of  misdirected  energy." 

C.  F.  H[offman]. 


Thursday,  June  12,  ['44?] 

My  dear  Griswold : 

...  I  send  you  today  a  copy  of  Monday's  Gazette  with  my  re 
marks  on  Scott,  regarding  whom  I  know  you  have  never  been  at  the  pains  to 
form  an  opinion,  thoug"h  you  have  permitted  yourself  to  imbibe  a  prejudice 
from  some  of  the  shallow  dogmas  of  the  critics  of  Poedom  and  the  Lowell 
Institute.  Read,  mark,  learn,  and  inwardly  digest  what  I  have  written  here. 
The  critics  upon  Scott  make  exactly  the  same  blunders  that  they  do  about 
Cooper's  genius.  They  call  Cooper,  too,  "  only  a  daguerreotype  painter  of 
external  life."  Now  to  prove  that  he  is  a  creator  by  a  brace  of  arguments 
that  would  mortally  offend  Mr.  Cooper  himself : — 

Imprimis— One  of  the  most  sailor-like  old  salts  in  the  navy  once  said 
in  my  hearing—"  Sir,  Mr.  Cooper  is  one  of  the  first  geniuses  that  ever  lived. 
He  is  no  sailor  sir,  no  sailor  at  all,  but  his  sea  scenes  are  so  much  like  truth, 
and  they  give  so  much  poetry  to  the  details  of  my  profession  that  I  love 
every  line  he  writes." 

Again— A  Vermonter,  who  is  a  great  Hunter  and  Woodman,  called  in 
my  office  last  week  with  a  note  of  introduction  and  at  once  commenced 
talking  about  Cooper.  "  People,"  said  he,  "  don't  dream  what  that  man's 
genius  is — why  now,  for  instance,  he  is  a  mighty  poor  Woodman  and  often 
wrong,  wrong  altogether,  but  I  take  his  books  with  me  on  my  tramps,  and 
whenever  he  gets  in  the  woods  I  could  read  what  he  has  to  say  forever. 
That's  what  I  call  genius.  He  makes  a  Nature  of  his  own  that  you  are  will 
ing  to  substitute  for  real  Nature." 

Read  my  paragraph  about  Scott,  and  you  will  see  the  application  of 
these  remarks  to  his  poetry.  Your  indulgent  friend, 

C.  F.  Hoffman. 


Saint  Louis,  19th  June,  1844. 
My  dear  Mrs.  Osgood, 

Mrs.  Bill  informs  me  in  a  recent  letter,  that  you  have  done  me 
the  honor  to  request  my  autograph.  Will  you  pardon  the  method  I  take  in 
conveying  it  to  you,  when  I  confess  that  the  selfish  desire  of  numbering 
among  my  correspondents  one  with  whose  pure  and  beautiful  thoughts  I 


AMELIA   WELBY.  155 

have  long  been  familiar,  has  often  crossed  my  mind?  Many  years  ago,  Mrs. 
Gilman  pointed  out  to  me,  in  the  Boston  papers,  several  poems  under  the 
signature  of  "  Florence"  as  "  the  productions  of  a  little  girl  about  my  own 
age,  whom  I  would  do  well  to  keep  before  my  mind  as  a  model "  if  I  wished 
to  write  for  the  public.  Now  you  must  know,  I  always  love  those  t5  whom 
I  look  up  with  anything  like  respect  and  admiration ;  and  the  natural  result 
of  seeking  out  every  thing  from  your  pen  has  been,  to  draw  me  towards 
you  as  invisibly  as  the  magnet  draws  the  steel.  How  far  Mrs.  Bill's  charm 
ing  letters,  (in  many  of  which  you  are  so  fully  discussed  )  have  contributed 
t5  strengthen  my  predilections,  I  leave  you  to  determine;  only  adding,  as  a 
conclusive  motive  for  this  letter,  the  wish  I  feel  to  thank  you  for  the  kind 
ness  you  have  extended  to  me  by  interesting  yourself  in  my  behalf  with 
Messrs.  Graham  and  Peterson. 

Mrs.  Bill  tells  me  you  are  desirous  of  obtaining  some  description  of 
"  Amelia"  [  Welby  ]  ;  an  elderly  gentleman,  a  friend  of  mine,  speaks  of  her 
thus  in  a  letter  I  received  yesterday  :— 

"  I  saw  Amelia  at  Louisville,  and  had  the  honor  of  being  presented  to 
her  by  one  of  the  most  elegant  and  accomplished  ladies  in  the  City,  Mrs.  G. 
D.  Prentice.  She  lives  in  a  sweet  little  cottage,  in  the  midst  of  a  small  court 
beautifully  cultivated  in  flowers  and  shrubbery,  some  of  the  flowers  she  did 
me  the  honor  to  present  me  with  her  own  poetical  hand !  I  shall  preserve 
them.  Her  parlour  is  plainly  but  neatly  furnished,  a  well  toned  piano  is 
one  of  the  ornaments,  and  a  neat  round  table  well  filled  with  choice  works, 
among  which  is  a  small  volume  of  her  own  poems.  Amelia's  figure  is 
slender  atid  tall,  but  her  manners  are  not  graceful,  indeed  there  is  a  rusticity 
and  awkwardness  about  them  that  plainly  indicates  the  want  of  early  culture 
and  good  society.  She  required  too  much  persuading  to  sing,  for  one  who 
sings  so  well,  and  would  only  consent  after  Mrs.  Prentice  had  sung  some 
thing  from  Xorma.  Amelia  has  a  fine,  liquid,  silvery  voice,  and  need  not 
fear  to  sing  before  Kings.  She  warms  up  with  her  singing,  and  her  eye, 
which  is  a  large  dark  hazel,  tells  as  plainly  as  eye  can  tell  the  emotions  of 
her  heart.  She  sang  several  of  her  own  pieces,  among  the  number,  "  Sweet 
memories  of  thee."  While  at  the  piano  I  had  an  opportunity  of  examining 
her  head,  as  far  as  the  fascination  of  her  music  would  allonv.  She  has  a 
glorious  head  !  a  forehead  broad  and  expansive  like  that  of  the  Gods.  The 
upper  head  capacious,  evincing  an  ample  development  of  the  moral  and 
intellectual  organs.  The  posterior  portions  of  the  brain  would  point  her  out 
as  a  genuine  daughter  of  Eve ;  having  all  the  qualities  necessary  to  make  her 


156  AMELIA  WELBY. 

an  affectionate  wife  and  fond  mother.  If  my  theory  is  correct,  she  is  natu 
rally  religious,  and  has  a  lively  sensibility  to  the  beauty  and  grandeur  of 
God's  glorious  works.  Her  head  is  very  much  like  that  of  the  lion  S.  S. 
Prentiss,  the  orator  of  Mississippi.  If  I  have  not  impressed  you  with  the 
belief  that  she  is  a  favorite  with  me,  I  wish  now  to  state  it.  I  like  her  ex 
ceedingly,  and  have  only  to  regret  that  she  has  not  those  elegant  and  comely 
manners  that  would  so  well  become  her  genius  and  her  fame ;  for  I  am  com 
pelled  to  say  in  all  truth  and  solemnness,  that  she  has  an  awkward  way  of 
putting  her  fingers  in  her  mouth,  and  other  little  unbecoming  ways  which  do 
not  impress  one  with  a  high  idea  of  her  merits."  Pardon  me,  my  dear  Mrs. 
Osgood,  this  long  extract,  but  it  may  serve  better  than  a  less  minute  detail  to 
give  you  an  accurate  idea  of  our  "Western  Star."  .  .  .  Your  sincere  friend, 

Anna  Peyre  Dinnies. 


Ingress  Abbey,  Greenhithe,  Kent,  Sunday,  July  25, 1844. 
[  To  Mrs.  Osgood  ] : 

And  so  at  last  you  did  remember  that  Eliza  Cook  was  alive?  Oh 
I  should  so  like  to  scold  you  for  the  uncivil  forgetfulness  with  which  you 
have  treated  my  poor  name.  If  I  had  known  where  to  address  a  letter  I 
should  certainly  have  inflicted  a  yarn  on  you  long  since,  but  America  is  a 
big  place,  and  so  I  was  forced  to  be  content  with  thinking  of  you  now  and 
then.  Right  glad  am  I  of  this  opportunity  to  gossip  with  you.  How  are  you 
getting  on?  How  is  Mr.  Osgood  and  how  is  little  Ellen? — the  fairy  imp  who 
was  just  beginning  to  walk  into  the  rough  road  of  Life?  I  should  so  like  to 
come  to  the  land  of  Washington  but  my  lungs  will  not  look  "  old  Nep  "  in 
the  face,  and  "  I  guess  "  if  I  ventured  to  float  in  his  large  pickling  tub  I 
should  soon  be  salted  down  myself.  Even  the  soft  breezes  of  the  Isle  of 
Wight  and  the  still  more  southern  clime  of  Jersey  are  poison  to  me.  I  can 
not  Jive  where  saline  particles  are  found,  so  I  never  hope  to  reach  your  land. 
If  I  could  breathe  on  the  blue  wave,  this  coming  summer  would  find  me  at 
New  York,  and  you  would  see  that  your  old  friend  would  be  just  the  same 
"  strange  fish  "  as  ever. 

You  have  told  me  nothing  of  yourselves.  I  want  to  learn  how  you  are 
thriving — whether  Dame  Fortune  is  "  smiling  or  smiting  or  kissing  or  bit 
ing."  Do  not  think  I  am  rude  or  impertinent  in  this  curiosity.  I  am  certain 
there  is  much  in  our  natures  and  feelings  to  promote  sympathy,  and  nothing 
would  be  more  grateful  to  my  feelings  than  to  hear  that  you  were  happy  and 
prosperous.  You  must  write  a  very  long  letter  and  tell  me  more  of  your- 


ELIZA  COOK.  157 

selves.  I  have  not  seen  the  youth  who  bore  your  welcome  favour  yet,  but  I 
intend  to  ask  him  to  meet  me  if  agreeable  to  himself,  and  then  I  may  gain  a 
little  more  Yankee  news  than  you  have  afforded  me.  Now  to  tell  you  how 
the  world  treats  me.  I  believe  you  have  a  kind  interest  in  my  fame,  and  I 
shall  rattle  on  just  as  the  humour  prompts.  Fortune  has  never  once  knit  her 
brow  when  gazing  at  me.  I  may  consider  myself  blest  as  far  as  poetic 
success  can  bless. 

The  Editions  of  my  work  have  sold  well,  and  my  last  Edition  is  just 
out  of  print.  But  I  must  tell  you  that  Bogue,  the  successor  of  my  late  pub 
lisher,  has  not  used  me  fairly.  Letters  were  received  by  him  from  the 
Langleys  in  your  city  relative  to  an  Edition  of  the  plates  in  my  volume  being 
sent  them.  One  letter  addressed  to  me,  containing  a  fair  and  flattering 
arrangement  as  regarded  my  own  views,  was  detained  by  Mr.  Bogue  for  two 
months  and  at  length  given  to  me  opened,  thereby  shutting  me  out  from  all 
co-operation  with  the  American  people,  when  I  should  have  been  most 
happy  to  have  aided  them  in  any  way.  But  Mr.  Bogue  availed  himself  of 
the  correspondence,  and  entered  into  agreements  which  I  dispute  the  jus 
tice  of. 

I  instantly  wrote  to  "  Langley,"  New  York,  explaining  the  whole 
affair  in,  as  I  thought,  a  very  frank  and  kindly  manner,  requesting  an  answer 
as  soon  as  convenient — this  I  have  never  had,  and  my  opinion  is  that  some 
dishonourable  and  secret  jockeying  has  taken  place  between  them  and 
Bogue.  Now  surely,  as  a  lady,  I  have  a  right  to  some  consideration,  and  a 
formal  acknowledgment  should  have  at  least  been  allowed  me.  I  am  strong 
ly  prejudiced  in  favour  of  the  Americans,  and  extend  my  warmest  wishes  t5 
them — they  are  heartily  welcome  to  any  use  of  my  works,  and  the  more  my 
poems  are  promulgated  among  them,  the  better  I  am  pleased.  .  .  If  you  see 
Mr.  Griswold,  present  my  compliments,  with  the  assurance  that  he  has 
highly  flattered  me  by  deeming  my  simple  compositions  worthy  his  atten 
tion.  .  . 

The  English  are  crammed  to  the  skull  top  with  Daniel  O'Connell,  Irish 
Repeal,  League  Meetings,  Cornlaws,  and  Mesmerism,  slightly  relieved  by 
Concerts,  new  Operas,  Charles  Kean  and  Charity  Balls.  Thomas  Campbell 
has  gone  to  reside  in  Boulogne,  being  much  shattered  in  health.  Dickens  is 
a  vast  "  lion"  here,  but  I  presume  he  has  done  for  himself  with  your  people 
—indeed  I  think  his  '*  American  Notes"  a  very  inferior  work,  even  in  a  liter 
ary  point  of  view,  and  I  suppose  the  detail  of  matter  is  not  quite  just.  He 


158  GRAHAM'S  MAGAZINE. 

has  published  a  "  Carol"  this  Christmas  which  is  "  a  rare  bit,"  and  has  very 
considerably  advanced  his  reputation  thereby.  .  . 

They  say  I  write  such  stern  and  sometimes  horrible  things,  but  I  like 
such  things  best.  If  I  could  but  get  int5  some  of  the  American  dells  and 
dingles  and  forest  shades,  how  I  should  become  imbued  with  the  beauty  of 
the  vast  country,  and  what  huge  overgrown  stanzas  I  should  commit !  What 
a  monster  sonnet  I  should  get  up !  ... 

I  must  cut  and  run,  for  my  brother  has  just  entered  my  "  sanctum  " 
with  my  American  style  of  pet  "  Tell,"  who  stands  something  about  even 
with  the  table,  and  threatens  to  blot  this  with  his  mighty  tail.  .  . 

Give  my  love  to  Mr.  Osgood,  and  tell  him  he  is  not  forgotten  by  me.  .  . 

Eliza  Cook. 

New  York,  Aug.  16,  1844. 
My  dear  Sir: 

...  I  wrote  to  Mr.  Graham  some  time  since  mentioning  to  him 
that  I  had  some  poems  by  my  brother— tw5  pteces— which  I  should  like  to 
dispose  of  for  his  magazine.  As  you,  I  believe,  still  interest  yourself  some 
what  in  the  affairs  of  his  periodicals,  will  you,  if  you  see  him  soon,  remind 
him  of  the  matter?  Yours  truly, 

W.  C.  Bryant. 

The  cause  of  Griswold 's  inability  to  keep  his  place  in  Gra 
ham's  office  is  hinted  in  Greeley's  letter  of  5  January.  Ingram, 
in  his  "  Poe,"  makes  a  more  specific  statement,  viz.,  that  "  R. 
W.  Griswold  was  an  employe  of  Mr.  Graham,  and,  it  is  alleged, 
was  dismissed  for  dishonesty."  One  would  suppose  that  such 
a,  discovery  would  have  put  an  end  to  all  relations  between 
them,  but  it  seems  not  t6  have  done  so,  as  Griswold  continued 
to  act,  off  and  on,  as  assistant  editor  for  several  years.  His 
portrait,  as  one  of  "Our  Contributors,"  ("Our  Dishonest 
Employe  "  would  have  attracted  more  attention  )  appeared  in 
the  magazine  for  June  1845. 


New  York,  Aug.  22nd,  1844. 
My  dear  Griswold : 

I  am  vexed  with  myself,  that  I  have  so  long  neglected  to  write 
you  when  I  promised.    My  only  apology  is  my  extreme  press  of  employ- 


G:  H.   COLTON.  159 

ment.    I  doubt  whether  at  this  time  it  is  not  too  late  to  furnish  any  data 
respecting  myself.    If  so,  it  is  no  matter,  as  far  as  I  am  concerned. 

The  data  are  simply  as  follows ;  Born  among  the  mountains  of  Otsego 
Co.,  N.-Y.,  in  the  town  of  Westford  (about  12  miles  from  Cooperstown ) 
Oct.  25th  1818,  the  fifth  of  nine  children.  Parents  from  New  England. 
Father  native  of  West  Hartford. 

Father  a  clergyman  of  the  Congregational  order.  At  the  age  of  three 
years  I  was  removed  with  my  father's  family  to  Koyalton,  Niagara  Co. 
Lived  there  nine  years. 

Principal  early  advantages  during  this  period  were  an  indifferent  dis 
trict  school,  a  large  library  belonging  to  my  father,  an  unbounded  love  of 
reading  shared  in  common  with  the  rest,  and  a  disposition  on  my  father's 
part  to  indulge  it  to  the  utmost.  By  the  age  of  twelve  had  read  a  large  por 
tion  of  English  classical  literature. 

From  Royalton  my  father  removed  to  Elba,  Genesee  Co.  After 
spending  three  years  there  in  desultory  reading,  English  studies  and  labor 
ing  on  a  farm,  I  went  to  New  Haven,  to  prepare,  under  my  oldest  brother,  a 
tutor  in  Yale  College,  now  deceased,  for  my  collegiate  course.  Entered  Yale 
in  1835,  at  the  age  of  17.  Graduated  with  next  the  highest  honors  in  1840,  at 
the  age  of  21.  During  the  next  year  kept  a  classical  school  at  Hartford  and 
wrote  "  Tecumseh."  Yours  very  truly, 

Geo.  H.  Colton. 

[  Mr.  Colton  died  three  years  later  at  the  age  of  twenty-nine.  J 


Boston,  Sep.  13, 1844. 
Dear  Ruf  us : 

The  stupid  hackman  who  drove  us  to  the  Cemetery  at  Fair- 
mount  so  miscalculated  his  time  that  instead  of  getting  us  in  at  12  as  we 
anticipated  and  he  promised,  it  was  nearly  3.  We  called  at  your  house  but 
you  was  missing  and  we  did  not  see  you  again.  I  regret  this  exceedingly  as 
I  had  many  things  to  say  to  you  touching  your  plans  of  publication  and  other 
matters  of  general  interest.  I  wanted  to  say  many  things  which  I  cannot 
write ;  in  short  to  suggest  among  others  the  propriety  of  checking  your  pub 
lishing  ambition  rather  than  urging  the  horses  onward,  etc.  This  I  was 
prevented  from  doing  by  the  two-legged  sinner  who  kept  us  on  the  road  so 
long.  * 

With  regard  to  the  "  Christian  Ballads"  it  will  be  for  the  interest  of 
L.  and  B.  to  send  them  at  once  to  us  for  Editors.    I  should  prefer  they 


160  KEY,— XEAL. 

would  be  sent  from  you  to  Mary,  as  she  thinks  you  a  tremendous  clever 
fellow,  preferring  you,  I  think,  to  the  literary  tribe  generally. 

I  am  very  busy  just  now  with  recent  importations  or  I  would  write 
more  touching  what  news  I  found  on  my  arrival  home  but  as  I  am  sur 
rounded  with  Invoices  and  new  Books  you  will  be  less  bored  than  I  have  it 
in  my  heart  to  do. 

Let  me  hear  from  you  often.  I  think  you  are  very  pleasantly  situated, 
and  wish  I  could  have  remained  longer  in  my  favorite  quaker  city,  though 
"fore  God  "I  think  it  has  fallen  off  vilely  since  I  saw  it  last.  Regards  to 
H.  T.  T.  and  all  friends.  Yours  always, 

J.  T.  F[ields]. 


Avondale,  Oct.  20th,  1844. 
My  dear  Sir: 

...  I  might  possibly  be  of  some  service  to  you  in  procuring  for 
you  some  of  the  poetical  remains  of  the  late  Francis  Key,  author  of  the 
Star-Spangled  Banner.  I  am  well  acquainted  with  the  family,  and  have 
frequently  heard  his  sons  say  that  the  "  old  man  "  (  as  they  called  him  )  had 
written  much  better  things  than  his  renowned  national  song,  and  that  he  has 
left  behind  him  a  large  number  of  poems,  principally  of  a  Devotional  order. 
Now,  my  dear  Sir,  if  you  think  these  would  be  of  any  service  to  you,  I  have 
not  the  least  doubt  but  that  I  might  be  instrumental  in  procuring  them.  .  . 
Excuse  haste  and  believe  me  ever  Your  sincere  friend, 

Thomas  E.  Van  Bibber. 


Oct.  24, 1844. 
Dear  Griswold : 

.  .  .  Mr.  John  Neal,  who,  according  to  the  standing  advertise 
ment  on  the  cover  of  his  publication,  has  rare  power  of  discovering  talent 
and  a  most  condescending  liberality  in  fostering  it  when  found,  speaks  of 
you  in  his  last  Jonathan  as  "  a  Mr.  Griswold,  we  believe  that  is  the  man's 
name."  I  am  really  sorry  for  you,  poor  fellow !  how  do  you  get  along  with 
out  being  either  "  discovered "  or  "  fostered"  by  this  Portland  magnate? 
Yet  you  are  not  alone  in  your  pitiable  condition— the  hapless  author  of 
Charles  O'Malley  was  crushed  last  Saturday  by  the  same  piece  of  Maine 
Timber.  Yours  ever, 

C.  F.  Hoffman. 


'  THE  PROSE-WRITERS. '  161 

111  Fulton  St.,  N.  YM  28th  Oct.,  1844. 
My  dear  Sir, 

I  have  already  said  my  '  say '  of  Barrett's  Poems  in  the  Demo 
cratic  Review  for  Oct.  (where  you  will  find  I  have  also  made  suitable 
acknowledgment  to  Graham's  Magazine ) ,  and  Duyckinck  has  said  his  in 
the  new  [American ]  "WTiig  Review.  Aside  from  this,  judging  as  in  my  own 
case,  I  am  sure  it  would  please  the  authoress  better  to  have  each  Critique  by 
an  independent  hand :  and  I  shall  take  care  to  let  her  know  the  service  you 
have  done  her  when  you  write.  .  . 

I  see  that  Godey  is  disposed  to  give  Mr.  Graham  a  run  for  it  in  the 
Portrait  Gallery !  Every  author  in  the  country  ( if  things  go  on  at  this  rate ) 
will  have  to  set  his  face  against  these  undertakings.  Yours  Truly, 

C[ornelius]  M[athews]. 

[  An  interesting  series  of  letters  from  Mrs.  Browning  to  Mr.  Mathews 
relativ  to  the  publication  of  her  poems  in  this  country,  reviews,  etc.,  was 
publishd  in  « The  Collector,'  Nov.  1891— Mar.  1892.  ] 


New  York,  Dec.  28,  '44. 

Your  plan  is  a  famous  one,  my  dear  Griswold.  .  .  I  certainly 
would  balance  the  florid  style  of  Bancroft  with  the  directness  of  Sparks — 
nor  would  your  book  be  complete  without  quotations  from  Gouverneur 
Morris,  whom  the  men  of  his  day  thought  a  master  of  elegant  writing.  In 
making  my  selections,  I  would  choose  the  passages  which  are  most  charac 
teristic  of  the  writer  ( which  in  some  instances  are  not  the  best  that  might 
be  culled),  Timothy  Flint's  description  of  Red  River,  for  instance,  in  his 
"  Francis  Berrien  "  is  happily  the  most  Flintish  as  well  as  the  finest  passage 
you  could  quote  from  him. 

Irving's  Bracebridgc  Hall  has  a  passage  which  is  the  very  tip-toppery 
of  his  elegance. 

In  Frisbie's  review  of  Byron  there  is  a  passage  of  rare  musical  cadence. 
In  Gouverneur  Morris  you  will  find  a  blending  of  the  epigrammatic  style  of 
Junius  with  much  of  the  polished  facility  of  the  old  French  memoirs — and  in 
John  Randolph  you  have  more  than  the  biting  sarcasm  of  Wilkes.  .  .  Ever 
yours  truly, 

C.  F.  H[offman]. 


162  'THE   PROSE-WRITERS.' 

Cambridge,  7  Jan.  1845. 
My  dear  Sir  [W:  H:  Furness]  : 

I  should  be  very  glad  to  comply  with  your  request  in  a  more 
satisfactory  manner  than  it  is  possible  for  me  to  do.  My  information  is  not 
sufficiently  extensive,  nor  is  my  memory  ready  enough,  to  enable  me,  at 
least  without  a  fortnight's  thought  and  examination,  to  make  out  even  a  very 
imperfect  list  of  those  writers  whose  claims  may  deserve  consideration. 
Nor,  while  it  is  clear  that  some  writers  should  be  admitted  into  the  work 
proposed,  and  others  rejected,  should  I  find  it  easy  to  draw  any  tolerably 
definite  line  separating  one  class  from  the  other.  Wherever  I  might  stop  in 
the  selection  of  writers,  after  proceeding  beyond  a  very  few  of  the  most 
eminent,  I  should  apprehend  that  some  half-dozen  would  rise  up  before  me, 
having  claims  so  nearly  equal  t5  some  half-dozen  admitted,  that  it  would  be 
hard  to  say  why  the  latter  were  taken  and  the  former  rejected.  But  without 
suggesting  any  further  difficulties,  I  will  show,  at  least,  my  desire  to  comply 
with  any  request  of  yours  by  throwing  out  some  hints  and  bringing  together 
some  names  just  as  they  occur  to  me;  though  I  am  sure  my  recollection  will 
be  often  at  fault. 

The  oldest  writer  who  might  be  thought  of,  so  far  as  1  happen  to 
remember,  is  Cotton  Mather,  from  whom  some  striking  or,  perhaps,  I 
should  say,  remarkable  passages  might  be  taken.  If  the  reputation  and 
merit  of  an  author,  supposing  him  to  have  no  eloquence  nor  beauty  of  style, 
may  be  a  reason  for  giving  him  a  place,  Dr.  Chauncy  should  not  be  over 
looked.  There  are  eloquent  passages,  I  am  told,  in  the  writings  of  Mayhew, 
with  which  I  am  not  acquainted.  James  Otis  of  course  would  not  be  for 
gotten.  How  is  it  with  Dickinson,  the  author  of  the  Farmer's  Letters? 
What  is  to  be  done  with  the  elder  Adams?  and  his  wife  Mrs.  Adams?  John 
Quincy  Adams,  I  presume,  would  not  be  omitted.  There  would  be  no  ques 
tion,  I  suppose,  about  Washington,  Franklin,  Jefferson,  Madison,  Hamilton, 
Ames,  Webster,  or  Clay.  Dr.  Belknap  may  deserve  consideration,  the 
historian  of  New  Hampshire,  and  the  author  of  the  "  Foresters"  and  other 
works.  President  Edwards,  Dr.  D wight,  Dr.  Mason  of  New  York,  and  for 
aaything  I  know  to  the  contrary,  President  Nott,  must  all  be  candidates  for 
admission.  I  came  near  forgetting  General  Henry  Lee.  I  wish  I  had  some 
book  at  hand  containing  reading  lessons  or  pieces  for  declamation  to  help 
my  memory,  but  as  I  have  not  I  will  now  mention  without  comment,  and 
without  order,  a  host  of  names  just  as  they  happen  to  present  themselves. 
Dr.  Channing,  Buckminster,  Greenwood,  Thacher,  Dr.  Ware  the  elder,  Dr. 


'THE  PROSE-WRITERS.'  163 

H.  Ware,  I  think  Dr.  John  Ware,  William  Ware,  Dr.  Kirkland,  Mr.  Frisbie, 
Noah  Worcester,  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Gilman,  Miss  Sedgwick,  Mrs.  H.  Lee,  the 
two  Abbots,  whose  books  have  been  so  popular,  Edward  Everett  (how 
could  I  have  left  him  to  this  place?)  Alexander  Everett,  Irving,  Cooper, 
Brockden  Brown,  Hoffman,  Kennedy,  and  other  novelists  whose  merits  I  am 
not  acquainted  with,— Verplanck,  Paulding,  our  minister  Mr.  Wheaton,  per 
haps  DeWitt  Clinton.  Mr.  Bowen,  the  present  editor  of  the  N.  A.  Review, 
Mr.  Prescott,  Mr.  Ticknor,  Mr.  Hillard,  H.  R.  Cleveland,  Burnap  TJpham, 
the  two  Peabodys  (brothers),  Legar6,  Wirt,  Sparks,  Palfrey,  Dr.  Walker, 
Professor  Channing,  Judge  Story,  Washington  Allston,  the  two  Danas, 
father  and  son,  Dr.  Freeman,  Rev.  Mr.  Coleman,  Dr.  Lathrop  of  West 
Springfield,— Bancroft,  Brownson,  Emerson,  Willis. 

On  running  over  the  preceding  list  I  perceive  at  once  many  names 
that  should  be,  or  that  may  be,  added,  and  when  I  have  added  these,  I  pre 
sume  many  will  still  be  omitted— Longfellow,  Hawthorne,  Mrs.  Kirkland 
(Mrs.  Clavers ),  Timothy  Flint,  Dr.  Dewey,  President  Quincy,  Commander 
Mackenzie,  Rev.  B.  R.  Hall  ( author  of  the  "  New  Purchase"  ),  Schoolcraft, 
Stephens  (the  traveller),  Warren  Burton  (  author  of  the  "  District  School 
as  it  Was  "  )  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Follen,  Audubon,  Wilson  the  Ornithologist  and 
Nuttall,  if  they  are  to  be  considered  as  Americans,  Robert  Walsh,  Dennie, 
the  editor  of  the  Portfolio,  William  Dunlap,  William  Tudor,  Mrs.  Childs,— 
t5  go  back  again  to  older  times,  Dr.  Rush,— Rev.  Mr.  Putnam,  the  last  year's 
Phi  Beta  Kappa  orator  at  Cambridge,  Mrs.  Theodore  Sedgwick  ( author  of 
Alida,  etc. )  % 

But  the  contracting  space  of  my  paper  admonishes  me  to  stop.  I  can 
hardly  hope  that  my  suggestions  will  be  of  any  further  service  than  to  prove 
my  unwillingness  to  neglect  any  request  of  yours. 

Very  truly,  my  dear  Sir,  yours, 

Andrews  Norton. 


New  York,  Jan.  15,  1845. 
Friend  Griswold : 

I  send  you  on  the  other  leaf  a  notice  of  Miss  Fuller's  book — 
meagre  and  vague  enough,  as  a  notice  in  twenty  lines  could  hardly  fail  to  be. 
I  want  this,  as  much  better  as  you  can  make  it,  in  Graham  for  March,  and 
no  mistake.  Don't  disappoint  me.  Yours, 

Horace  Greeley. 

P.  S.— Margaret's  book  is  going  to  sell.    I  tell  you  it  has  the  real  stuff 
in  it.  .  . 
* 


164  WILLIS  AND  RAYMOND. 

Knickerbocker  Office,  [11  Feb.  1845.] 
My  dear  Griswold : 

I  write  this  at  our  friend  Clark's  elbow— who  ( Clark,  not  the 
elbow )  tells  me  that  eight  years  ago,  just  about,  his  brother,  then  editing  the 
Philadelphia  Gazette,  wrote  in  that  paper  a  column  about  N.  P.  Willis — 
scoring  him  savagely  and  putting  in  some  facts  which  would  be  of  use  to 
me.  I  was,  and  still  am,  loath  to  trouble  you  with  the  matter,  but  I  made 
an  unsuccessful  attempt  through  another  person  to  have  it  looked  up :  and  I 
now  must  trouble  you.  Please  look  it  up — either  yourself  or  send  somebody 
(to  the  Phil.  Library,  whe"re  is  a  full  file, )— have  it  copied  and  leave  it  with 
Mr.  Hart  at  the  U.  S.  Gazette  office  to  be  sent  to  me.  You  of  course  have 
seen  my  squabble  with  Willis.  If  you'll  do  this,  I'll  meet  any  expense  you 
may  incur,  and  will  repay  the  obligation  in  any  way  you  please.  Yours,  as 
ever, 

H.  J.  Raymond. 

The  Rev.  B :  T.  Onderdonk,  Bishop  of  New- York,  was  sen 
tenced  by  the  court  of  bishops  t6  suspension  from  his  office  on 
3  Jan.  1845, — the  same  sentence  which  had  recently  been  im 
posed  on  the  bishop  of  Pennsylvania.  Allowing  for  the  differ 
ence  in  newspapers  then  and  later,  the  case  attracted  even 
greater  attention  than  that  in  which  H  :  Ward  Beecher  was 
concernd  thirty  years  afterward.  A  few  months  before  this, 
Willis  (with  Morris  as  business  manager),  had  started  The 
Daily  Mirror,  which  claimed,  apparently  with  justice,  t6  treat 
the  events  of  the  day  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  well-to-d6 
and  educated  class.  Willis  said  he  at  first  decided  t6  ignore 
the  Onderdonk  affair,  but  having  expressd  the  opinion  that  the 
verdict  was  unjust,  because  the  offense  was  unprdved,  he  was 
forcd  t6  establish  the  correctness  of  this  view  by  an  examina 
tion  of  the  evidence  for  the  prosecution.  From  this  he  argued 
that  their  witnesses  wer  not  worthy  of  belief,  a  position  which 
at  once  drew  the  fire  of  Raymond.  Those  wh6  think  that  per 
sonal  journalism  is  something  new  may  read  with  interest  the 


WILLIS  AND  RAYMOND.  165 

folloing   extracts   from   '  The   Mirror '    ( weekly    edition )    of 
15  Feb.  1845  :— 

A  paper  that,  of  all  American  journals,  has  the  most  consideration 
( measured  by  the  country's  standard  of  representing  more  wealth  than  any 
other)— the  New  York  Courier  and  Enquirer— came  out,  unprovoked  and 
unexpectedly,  a  few  days  since,  with  a  paragraph  containing  two  vile  insin 
uations  against  my  private  character— no  less  than  libertinism,  and  most 
discreditable  motives  for  the  boldness  with  which  I  defended  the  Bishop.  .  . 
A  second  most  injurious  attack  immediately  appeared  in  the  Courier,  and  a 
country  paper  was  brought  in  the  same  day,  with  a  still  more  low-bred 
assault  upon  me  to  the  same  purport, — both  certified  to  be  from  the  pen  of  a 
diminutive  and  busy  little  reporter  [Raymond  was  25,  Willis  39]  who  saves 
the  cleaner  side  of  his  pen  for  the  Courier,  and,  with  the  other,  writes 
"spicy  scandal"  for  a  country  paper.  .  .The  simple  taking  off  of  the  little 
man's  borrowed  brass  .  .  .  resulted  in  his  giving  immediate  proof  of  his 
ungentleman-like  breeding  and  quality.  I  am  saved  all  further  trouble  as  to 
an  appreciation  of  the  Courier's  Raymond.  .  .  But  .  .  .  this  little  viper,  be 
sides  what  is  born  under  his  tongue,  has  started  up,  from  the  grass,  as  he 
crept  toward  me,  the  hidden  slanders  that  were  brooding  unseen  in  the  nests 
of  prolific  envy.  Offensive  as  such  foul  birds  are,  it  is  as  well  to  have  them 
served  up  and  named  in  the  daylight  for  recognition.  .  .  My  defense  of 
Bishop  Onclerdonk  is  next  called  a  "  public  display  of  profligacy,  written 
after  dinner,  when  not  in  a  condition  from  which  prudence  is  expected.  .  . 
This  long  libel  winds  up  with  a  tirade  against  the  Mirror,  which  Raymond 
calls  "the  pet  of  pimps,  and  himself  (myself)  the  coward  leader  of  all  the 
profligacy  that  seeks  a  higher  resting-place  than  the  gutter."  It  is  extra 
ordinary  that  with  "intemperance"  and  "  libertinism,"  health  shows  as 
freshly  on  my  cheek  as  it  did  at  sixteen !  extraordinary  that  I  am  one  of  the 
happiest  men  on  earth  in  my  well-known  and  much  visited  home,  that  a 
more  industrious  editor  does  not  exist  in  this  hardworking  land,  and  that  I 
can  show  invitations  to  pulpits  all  over  the  country  to  lecture,  to  firesides 
by  hundreds  that  I  have  no  time  to  visit.  .  .  Once  for  all  I  declare  myself  a 
good  citizen,  a  good  husband  and  father,  and  a  moral  and  capable  editor.  .  . 

After  this  one  concludes  that  only  shrinking  modesty  pre 
vented  Willis  from  getting  heavy  damages  by  means  of  a  libel 
suit. 


166  WILLIS  AND  RAYMOND. 

On  the  17th  May,  Raymond  gave  Griswold  his  view  of  the 
squabble : — 

I  believe  I  have  never  yet  thanked  you  for  your  labor  in  looking  for 
that  article  concerning  Willis  for  which  I  wrote.  I  procured  it  afterwards 
through  another  channel,  but  I  was  none  the  less  obliged  to  you.  You  were 
quite  right  in  supposing  that  my  quarrel  with  W.  was  not  at  all  t5  my  taste. 
I  would  have  given  a  good  deal  to  avoid  it — but  after  the  manner  in  which 
he  treated  me,  what  could  I  do?  His  position,  compared  with  mhje,  gave 
him  power  to  injure  me  very  much :— and  it  was  not  until  I  saw  he  was 
determined  to  use  it,  without  stint  or  remorse,  that  I  made  up  my  mind  to 
turn  the  tables  and  put  him  on  the  defensive.  This,  I  believe,  I  did  effec 
tually  enough :— and  yet  I  am  heartily  sorry  for  the  whole  affair,  and  would 
give  a  good  deal  even  now  to  have  it  reconciled,  could  it  be  done  with  pro 
priety.  But  I  think  W.  treated  me  very  badly,  and  I  do  not  think  he  had  a 
right  to  expect  any  thing  else  than  I  gave  him.  From  remarks  I  know  he 
made,  in  private,  I  am  sure  he  counted  on  abusing  me  with  impunity — first 
because  I  was  not  able  t5  repel  his  attack,  and  next  because  "Webb  would  not 
let  me  if  I  wished.  This  certainly  added  meanness  to  his  malice. 

Tribune  Office,  Sunday,  Feb.  16,  1845. 
R.  W.  Griswold,  Old  Fellow, 

.  .  .  Margaret  [  Fuller  ]'s  book  is  out.    I  tell  you  it  will  make  its 
mark.    It  is  not  elegantly  written,  but  every  line  talks.  Yours, 

Horace  Greeley. 


New  York,  Feb.  19, 1845. 
Dear  Griswold : 

.  .  .  You  asked  me  when  I  last  saw  you  for  my  opinion  of  some 
of  Fay's  writings.  You  will  find  it  in  the  American  Monthly  in  a  review  of 
"Norman  Leslie"  and  "Clinton  Bradshaw,"  which  review,  by  the  way, 
contains  the  passage  upon  the  resources  of  American  Romance  which  I 
spoke  to  you  about.  Have  you  seen  that  new  work  by  Vivian,  "  Vestiges  of 
the  Natural  History  of  Creation,"  ?  'Tis  a  good  deal  of  a  book,  written  in  a 
style  of  delightful  simplicity,  and  condensing,  digesting,  and  arranging  most 
admirably  the  best  received  knowledge  of  the  day  on  the  subject  so  as  to 
secure  a  well  defined  system  from  it. 

Miss  Fuller's  "Woman  in  the  Nineteenth  Century"  begins  to  make 
some  talk.    There's  a  good  story  afloat  about  her  and  your  friend  Ralph 


EMERSON  AND  MARGARET  FULLER.  167 

Waldo.  They  were  at  the  theatre  looking  at  Fanny  Elsler  for  the  first  time — 
"Margaret,  that  is  Poetry!"  observed  he.  "No,  Ralph,  that  is  Religion," 
rejoined  his  friend  with  mingled  enthusiasm  and  rebuke. 

We  have  a  live  Yankee  here  now  by  the  name  of  Hudson  who  makes 
some  stir  among  the  Shakesperians.  There  must  be  something  in  the  fel 
low — a  great  deal, — he  is  so  strongly  praised  and  so  indignantly  damned  by 
different  parties.  His  reputation,  like  his  style,  is  so  excessively  antithetical 
that  there  must  be  at  least  two  strong  points  about  him.  I  shall  try  not  to 
miss  his  next  night. 

Onderdonkery  seems  gradually  to  become  quiescent  notwithstanding 
the  new  pamphlets  which  continue  the  row  among  a  few.  But  there  is  no 
truth  in  the  report  that  the  Bishop  has  gone  as  a  Moravian  Missionary  t5 
the  Pawknees.  Do  let  me  hear  from  you  soon.  Truly  yours, 

C.  F.  H[offman]. 

Portland,  Feb.  27,1845. 
Dear  Sir : 

Your  plan  I  saw  mentioned  in  the  papers,  and  having  had  a 
similar  thought  in  my  head  years  ago,  I  was  prepared  to  understand  the 
difficulties  you  would  have  to  encounter.  My  plan  was  to  take  up  one  writer 
of  the  country,  worth  meeting,  and  give  a  just  notice  of  what  he  was  good 
for,  with  samples.  Yours,  I  take  it  for  granted,  is  a  better  and  safer  plan. 
You  will  make  no  enemies  and  I  no  friendj.  I  should  stir  up  ten  thousand 
communities — the  busiest  and  the  noisiest  of  the  land — with  here  and  there  a 
disciple  or  an  imitator  who  wouldn't  care  one  single  snap  what  became  of 
me  or  my  book,  after  he  had  been  heard  in  my  defence.  In  your  Poets  of 
America  you  were  certainly  not  just  to  me — but  then  you  were  unjust  to  so 
many  more,  who  could  not  b£ar  it  half  so  well,  that  I  never  gave  the  matter 
a  second  thought.  Your  injustice  to  me  however  was  not  so  much  in  what 
you  did  not  do— of  that  I  should  never  complain— as  in  what  you  did  do. 
You  adopted  the  second  hand  opinions  of  other  people  who  had  never  read 
my  poetry;  and  you  praised  or  quoted,  which  amounts  to  pretty  much  the 
same  thing,  a  parcel  of  stuff  I  had  been  ashamed  of  ever  since  it  was  written. 
The  poetry  I  refer  to  was  something  about  a  soldier  and  his  wife,  on  the 
shore  of  Lake  Ontario — which  had  been  borrowed  by  some  half  dozen  people 
before  to  show  what  I  was  made  of.  The  simpletons !  That  Birth  of  Poetry 
was  worth  a  cartload  of  such  trumpery— and  so  were  the  lines  to  Ambi 
tion.  . 


168  j:  NEAL. 

As  for  you,  now,  if  you  have  a  hearty  relish  for  poetry,  sincere  and 
generous  and  beautiful  poetry,  as  distinguished  from  conventional  poetry, 
classical  rhythm,  and  all  that,  which  between  ourselves,  I  very  much  doubt,  I 
tell  you  that  you  have  no  idea  of  what  I  have  done  ( to  say  nothing  of  what 
I  can  do  )  in  that  way,  than  if  you  had  never  heard  my  name  in  your  life. 

But— you  "  admire  my  novels."  Not  all  of  them,  I  hope— for  if  you 
do  I  must  give  you  up.  I  can  stomach  a  good  deal  of  my  own  writing  in 
that  way ;  but  really  when  I  come  to  think  of  some  that  I  have  written,  I 
feel  the  blood  mount  to  my  temples — and  "  go  a  rippling  to  my  finger  ends. " 
The  only  comfort  I  have  is  in  the  reflection  that  by  doing  it,  I  have  learned 
to  do  better;  and  that  I  never  should  have  been  what  I  am  now,  had  I  not 
been  what  I  was,  when  they  were  thrown  off,  like  eruptions  from  a  volcano 
in  full  blast;  my  notion  being  that  we  learn  quite  as  much  in  this  world  by 
failure  as  by  success. 

I  wish  I  could  put  you  in  the  way  of  getting  the  volumes  you  want 
and  at  a  reasonable  price,  but  I  cannot.  They  are  all  out  of  print,  and  I  hope 
will  remain  so,  at  least,  until  I  can  meet  with  a  publisher  worth  giving  them 
to,  and  leisure  for  putting  them  into  a  new  and  better  shape. 

'  Brother  Jonathan '  was  never  published  here  and  the  only  copy  I 
have  is  so  disfigured  by  alterations,  in  trying  to  make  the  whole  worthy  of 
facts,  that  I  am  afraid  to  let  any  mortal  see  it.  '  Seventy-Six'  I  hold  to  be 
the  best  by  far,  both  as  a  story,  and  as  a  whole.  Bating  some  errors  and  a 
great  many  extravagances,  that  I  should  be  willing  to  see  republished  in  its 
original  shape.  '  Randolph'  contains  some  bold  and  generous  writing,  but  I 
can  call  to  mind  nothing,  now,  which  would  suit  you  or  your  readers,  except 
perhaps  a  criticism  on  Shakespeare  and  the  poets  of  Great  Britain.  If  you 
should  extract  that  or  any  part  of  that,  pray  allow  me  to  see  the  proof. 

I  dare  not  furnish  you  with  a  biography  of  myself.  I  never  did  such 
a  thing  but  once  in  my  life  and  that  was  in  a  frolic ;  and  then  I  could  not 
bear  to  let  it  go  for  another's ;  and  so  I  said,  in  so  many  words,  this  is  what 
Mr.  N.  says  of  himself.  I  was  writing  for  Blackwood  and  reviewing  our 
whole  prose  literature  from  recollection,  without  having  a  single  book  to 
refer  to.  Wishing  not  to  be  known  as  the  author,  and  having  reviewed 
everybody  else,  I  could  not  overlook  myself  without  betraying  the  secret; 
and  having  once  undertaken  it,  I  durst  not  flinch  or  falter,  but  gave  my 
opinion  of  my  own  writing  just  as  I  would  of  another's,  acknowledging  how 
ever  ( that  others  might  not  be  misled )  where  I  had  picked  them  up,  namely 
from  the  author  himself.  You  will  find  them  in  Blackwood  about  1824-5  in 


j:  NEAL.  169 

a  series  of  papers  by  me.  In  the  New  York  Mirror  about  1826  or  8 — a 
sketch  appeared,  by  James  Brooks  of  the  Express,  embodying  a  variety  of 
personal  facts,  very  few  errors,  so  far  as  I  can  remember  now,  and  some  very 
good,  because  very  natural,  writing.  There  are  some  fifty  more,  I  might 
refer  you  to — but  you  would  only  lose  your  time  in  consulting  them.  Write 
as  you  feel — write  from  your  own  judgment  of  me,  without  the  least  refer 
ence  to  others,  but  however  unjust  or  severe  you  may  be,  in  my  own  opinion, 
I  will  forgive  you  with  all  my  heart,  and  like  you  all  the  better  for  it.  .  . 

I  thank  you  heartily  for  your  kind  invitation,  and  if  I  should  pass 
through  your  city  ( which  I  vowed  some  twenty  years  ago,  never  to  d5  if 
there  was  any  way  of  getting  round  it! — no  easy  matter,  I  acknowledge,  if 
getting  round  Philadelphia  means  getting  round  the  Philadelphians )  I  shall 
make  it  a  point  to  drop  in  upon  you  and  take  a  peep  at  your  library  and 
your  wife.  Yours  with  respect, 

John  Neal. 


Portland,  March  8, 1845. 
My  dear  Sir, 

I  see  plainly  I  shall  have  to  lend  you  a  hand.    Your  letter  has 
satisfied  me  that  we  have  long  misunderstood  each  other. 

If  you  get '  Brother  Jonathan ' — well :  but  for  Heaven's  sake  don't  fol 
low  the  punctuation.  That  was  one  of  my  idiosyncrasies  at  the  time — trying 
to  carry  out  a  system,  at  the  sacrifice  of  many  things  worth  more  than  the 
system  itself.  Should  you  fail  to  get  a  copy,  you  shall  have  mine.  If  you 
get  one — I  hardly  know  where  to  point  you  for  an  extract,  not  having  looked 
into  it,  I  verily  believe,  these  ten  years  and  being  really  afraid  to  do  so — lest 
I  should  lose  my  patience,  and  peradventure  not  a  little  of  my  self-respect. 
Still,  there  is  a  description  of  Edell  Cummin — a  creature  people  have  sup 
posed  I  got  from  Goethe's  Mignonne ;  I  hardly  know  why,  for  there  is  no 
earthly  resemblance  that  I  can  see,  and  h?r  character  was  painted  long  before 
I  had  ever  read  a  line  of  Goethe  or  knew  that  he  had  ever  conjured  up  such 
a  character,  or  apparition  rather,  as  Mignonne.  So,  too,  perhaps  you  might 
take  a  fancy  to  a  description  of  the  breaking  up  of  a  river  or  a  flooding  of 
low  lands  in  the  first  vol.  I  rather  liked  it  if  I  remember.  But  after 
all,  I  do  not  know  that,  so  far  as  Edell  is  concerned,  you  would  not  save 
yourself  some  breath  and  get  just  about  as  good  a  notion  of  all  I  was  after  in 
her  character,  by  running  your  eye  over  the  first  volume  of  my  last  novel, 
written  for  the  '  Brother  Jonathan '  paper,  but  never  finished.  It  is  called— 


170  J:  NEAL. 

may  I  be  hanged  if  I  can  remember  the  name  just  now ! — but  I  began  it  for 
Morris  to  help  start  the  Mirror.  I  literally  finished  it  in  the  B.  J.,— and  the 
'  Brother  Jonathan '  with  it.  '  Kuth  Elder !  '—that's  the  name.  I  wrote  it  at 
a  hand  gallop,  and  was  not  a  little  astonished,  the  other  day,  at  seeing  a  for 
eign  extract  from  the  story  of  Brother  Jonathan  which  satisfied  me  that  I 
had  been  stealing  from  my.self — recovering  the  very  dross  of  the  mould, 
"where  the  imagery  of  my  youth  was  smelted. 

There's  one  pretty  little  fairy  story — which  your  Mr.  Charles  Naylor 
is  raving  mad  about,  entitled  '  Goody  Gracious,'  and  which  I  think  might  be 
worth  your  attention.  It  appeared  in  the  N.  Y.  Mirror  six  years  ago,  per 
haps.  I  might  mention  several  others — clear,  simple,  and  straightforward, — 
one  published  in  a  sort  of  anti-slavery  book  called  the  Envoy,  1840,  Paw- 
tucket,  R.  I.  which  a  slaveholder  might  read,  I  think  with  tears  in  his  eyes, 
and  a  swelling  of  the  heart — if  he  were  so  disposed ;  and  another,  which  I 
am  sure  you  would  be  pleased  with,  called  Idiosyncracies.  It  appeared  in 
the  Brother  Jonathan,  about  a  year  ago  May  6  and  July  8, 1843.  I  have 
written  volumes  of  such  things,  but  can  recall  none  just  now  which  seem 
adapted  to  your  purpose,  except  these  and  one  called  '  Children,  what  are 
they?'  which  was  the  arch-type  of  many  a  volume  that  has  appeared  since  in 
the  shape  of  Magazine  writing  about  children. 

The  duel  you  mention  is  in  '  76 '  at  the  end  of  the  first  vol.  I  remem 
ber  it  for  its  bad  French — the  printer  playing  the  Very  mischief  with  my 
revise. 

Tomorrow  my  son  shall  copy  off  a  poem  or  two  not  over  long,  which 
will  give  you  a  better  idea  of  the  ore  than  you  have  had  an  opportunity  of 
acquiring.  If  you  lay  your  hand  upon  a  copy  of  the  ( Yankee'  .  .  .  you  will 
find  some  lines  to  an  Idiot  Boy,  which  I  have  had  the  misfortune  to  hear 
declaimed,  where  it  ought  to  have  been  "said  or  sung,"  more  than  once — 
and  the  lines,  rather  lengthy  as  we  say  here,  to  Byron,  written  just  after  my 
return  from  his  funeral  in  England.  They  are  bold,  but  want  retouching 
here  and  there.  The  poems  I  shall  send  are,  *  The  Dying  Husband  to  his 
Wife,'  and  perhaps — *  The  Marriage  Ring' — if  I  can  find  a  copy. 

As  you  promise  me  a  look  at  the  proofs,  I  begin  to  feel  easy.  A  word 
or  two,  here  and  there,  may  serve  me  at  least  for  another  generation  and 
help  you. 

The  second  edition  of  Niagara,  preface  and  all,  you  ought  to  have.  It 
contains  a  great  deal  of  poetry  not  to  be  found  in  the  first.  .  .  I  want  you  to 
read  the  preface ;  and  to  overlook  if  you  can — for  I  cannot — the  affectation 


j:  NEAL.  171 

and  extravagances  of  some  parts,  for  the  strength  and  sweetness  of  others. 

I  have  not  a  copy  of  Ambition— but  when  I  last  saw  it  going  the 
rounds,  I  wanted  to  pull  the  hair  out  of  somebody's  head— I  didn't  care  much 
whose— for  two  or  three  lines  like  these :  <  I  loved  to  hear  the  war-horn 
cry ' — instead  of  '  Pve  loved, '  etc.  .  . 

No,  I  did  not  dream  that  you  wanted  me  to  review  myself,  though 
your  language  might  have  admitted  such  an  interpretation,  much  less  that 
you  wanted  my  opinion  of  myself,  though  I  might  have  said  so,  but  simply 
to  state  the  truth  as  I  might  perhaps  without  unseemly  bragging :  for  in 
good  faith  [?]  I  have  had  uncommon  hardship  to  grapple  with,  all  along 
through  life,  with  nobody  to  help  me  and  fewer  still  to  encourage  or  sympa 
thize  with  me.  Hence  I  have  been  always  at  war,  in  one  way  or  another. 
And  yet  I  acknowledge  that  I  have  always  been  happy— that  no  man  had 
ever  more  to  be  thankful  for  [cut  out]  life  of  worldly  comfort,  health, 
strength  and  household  affections— or  [cutout]  for  making  war  upon  its 
fellowmen.  Your  lot  I  see,  has  been  altogether  more  trying,  and  you  may 
be  sure — you  are  sure — that  my  ignorance  of  your  domestic  state  led  to  the 
untimely  question  about  your  lost  wife.  .  .  I  had  a  sort  of  notion  -that  you 
were  a  bachelor,  for  which  I  felt  rather  sorry,  and  somewhat  vexed,  having 
a  horror  of  such  cattle  with  a  house  over  their  heads  and  the  means  of  mak 
ing  some  dear  woman  happy.  Yes,  depend  upon  it,  if  I  go  to  Philadelphia, 
I  shall  hunt  you  up.  Meanwhile,  be  thankful,  if  you  can,  that  you  lost  her 
so  suddenly — that  she  and  you  and  your  children  were  spared  the  wasting 
separation  of  protracted  illness— that  the  cord  of  life  was  not  slowly  un 
twisted  but  snapped  and  the  spirit  set  free  with  a  bound.  God  comfort  you 
and  your  dear  children.  If  you  are  led  this  way,  of  course  you  will  see  me 
and  mine,  [cut  out] 

It  has  just  occurred  to  me  that  a  psalm  of  the  death  of  Edell  Cummin 
— the  death  chamber  I  mean  would  be  likely  to  suit  you.  According  to  my 
present  recollection  it  is  an  affecting  and  faithful  picture. 

On  the  whole,  as  there  is  no  time  like  the  present,  I  believe  I  shall  go 
to  work  myself  and  send  you  such  samples  as  lie  in  my  way  at  once — and  in 
as  great  variety  as  I  can — part  warlike  and  part  of  a  time  of  peaceable  tem 
per  but  American  at  any  rate,  whatever  else  they  may  be. 

[John  Neal]. 

P.  S. — Your  determination  to  go  through  all  my  novels  reminds  me  of 
a  similar  act  of  heroism  by  Longfellow,  after  his  return  from  Sweden.  He 
had  never  read  one  before  and  had  no  just  idea  of  anything  but  my  faults 


172  EDWIN  P.  WHIPPLE. 

and  follies,  but  he  began  and  read  through  thick  and  thin,  and  without 
stopping,  I  believe. 

Neal's  genius  was  not  everywhere  appreciated  :  *  The  Knick 
erbocker',  of  June  1842,  had  the  folloing  : — 

In  '  London  Assurance'  there  is  a  character  called  ' Cool,'  and  his  part 
is  one  which  might  be  well  filled  by  Mr.  John  Neal, — a  victim  of  the  cacoethes 
scribendi  who  has  contributed  more  spoiled  paper  to  line  trunks  and  singe 
fowls  than  any  other  writer  in  the  United  States.  A  friend  has  called  our 
attention  to  an  insinuation,  in  one  of  his  late  crazy  communications  to  a  city 
journal,  that  he  had  declined  heretofore  to  write  for  the  Knickerbocker, 
because  he  was  fearful  that  he  should  not  be  sufficiently  rewarded  for  his 
pains ;  as  two  of  our  favorite  correspondents  ( whose  very  last  brief  com 
munications  to  these  pages  brought  to  the  one  twenty-five  and  to  the  other 
fifteen  dollars )  had  advised  him  of  old  Diedrich's  defalcation  in  their  case ! 
Now  we  desire  explicitly  to  say,  injustice  to  our  reputation  for  a  respectable 
taste,  that  we  never  in  our  lives  saw  an  article  from  the  pen  of  Mr.  John 
Neal,  in  prose  or  verse,  with  which  we  would  have  encumbered  the  pages  of 
the  Knickerbocker,  even  had  we  been  paid  for  so  doing ;  that  we  never  in 
vited  him  to  write  a  line  for  our  Magazine,  nor  has  his  name  ever  been  men 
tioned  or  alluded  to  in  any  way  as  one  of  our  contributors.  We  have  been 
once  or  twice  asked,  indeed,  by  a  friend  (and  doubtless  at  Mr.  Neal's  own 
instance)  t5  solicit  his  contributions;  but  sharing  the  indifference  of  the 
public  to  his  bedashed,  inflated,  and  affected  4  tattlements,'  or  rather  twattle- 
ments,  we  always  very  respectfully  declined  the  proposition. 


Midnight,  March  18, 1845. 
Dear  Grisvvold : 

.  .  .  Mary  remains  comfortable,  but  I  think  she  is  fading  daily. 
Her  disease  is  consumption,  for  which,  I  am  persuaded,  there  is  no  cure. 

We  all  often  speak  of  you,  Griswold,  and  wonder  what  you  are  doing 
in  these  vexatious  days.  Whipple  is  still  in  nubibus.  Now  and  then  he 
descends,  but  his  visits  earthwards  are  but  seldom.  You  may  catch  him 
over  his  coffee  at  his  accustomed  "  Haven  "  but  he  rarely  tarries  long.  At 
the  Exchange  Reading  Room  hangs  one  who  gathers— subscribers,  but  he»is 
not  himself  when  thus  engaged.  'Tis  only  when  "  daylight  dies  "  you  may 
look  at  him  through  smoked  glass.  For  women  he  has  no  "  pangs."  Now 


LITERARY   AMENITIES.  173 

and  then  he  mumbleth  "  Mowatt"  but  this  is  his  only  sign  of  remembrance 
of  the  sex. 

Let  me  have  Alfred  soon  and  believe  me  always,  Yours  most  truly, 

J.  T.  F[ields]. 

A  glimpse  of  the  literary  manners  of  the  period  is  given  in 
the  New-York  correspondence  of  '  The  National  Intelligencer ' 
for  20  March  :— 

The  jury,  in  the  case  of  Park  Benjamin  and  J.  W.  Judd,  indicted  for 
an  alleged  libel  in  the  '  New  "World  '  newspaper,  brought  in  a  verdict  of  "not 
guilty  "  on  Saturday  afternoon.  Owing  to  the  positions  of  the  parties  in  the 
suit,  considerable  interest  was  attached  to  it.  The  history  may  be  briefly 
stated.  Mr.  Cooley  of  this  city,  wrote  and  published  a  book  "  The  American 
in  Egypt."  Mr.  Gliddon,  son  of  our  late  consul  at  Alexandria,  saw,  or  fan 
cied  he  saw,  some  unworthy  reflections  upon  his  father  in  said  book,  and  he 
wrote  a  severe  review  of  it,  exposing  in  a  caustic  style  its  defects  and  mis- 
statements.  Mr.  Cooley  feeling  himself  aggrieved,  made  a  personal  assault 
upon  Mr.  Gliddon,  under  circumstances  which  did  not  impugn  the  latter's 
courage  or  capacity  to  defend  himself.  Mr.  Cooley  was  indicted,  tried,  and 
sentenced  to  pay  a  fine  of  $5.  '  The  New  World  ' ,  in  commenting  on  the 
affair,  remarked  that  "  Mr.  Cooley  had  acquired  his  skill  in  knocking  down 
as  a  Chatham  Street  auctioneer."  For  this  and  other  remarks  of  rather  a 
playful  than  a  severe  character,  Mr.  Benjamin  was  indicted  and  tried.  The 
jury,  in  acquitting  him,  took  occasion  to  add  that  the  article  complained  of 
was  "  ill-judged  and  uncalled  for."  And  thus  a  suit,  which  should  never 
have  been  commenced,  was  terminated. 

Benjamin  seems  t6  hav  been  a  man  of  good  morals  and  cor 
rect  habits,  but  he  had  queer  notions  of  literary  ethics.  In 
August  1842,  'The  Brother  Jonathan'  (then  edited  by  H.  H. 
Weld  )  publishd  the  folloing  from  '  The  Boston  Post ' :— 

'The  New  York  Union,'  in  alluding  t5  the  exposure  of  a  system  of 
puffing  in  vogue  among  a  certain  class  of  writers,  says :  "The  Brother 
Jonathan  gives  five  letters  of  Park  Benjamin,  which  are  piquant  models  of 
epistolary  composition,  brief,  bold,  admirably  qualified  to  startle  a  man  out 
of  a  twenty-dollar  bill.  '  The  Ladies'  Companion '  was  to  be  reviewed  in  the 
4  Southern  Literary  Messenger,'  the  « New  World '  and  the  '  New  Yorker '  by 
contract;  besides  which  the  following  stimulant,  a  kind  of  whet  to  the  pub- 


174  LITERARY  "  STRIKING.  " 

lisher's  sated  appetite,  was  held  out  in  a  postscript :  '  What  say  you  to  a  first 
rate  notice  in  the  Boston  Post? '  Et  tu  quoque !  " 

We  [ '  The  Post '  ]  beg  to  say  to  the  Union,  and  to  the  public,  that 
Mr.  Benjamin  has  never  written  a  review  for  the  Post,  and  had  no  more 
authority  for  putting  the  above  interrogatory  to  the  <  Ladies'  Companion,' 
respecting  this  journal,  than  he  has  to  ask  a  similar  question  respecting  the 
Union,  or  any  other  paper.  Our  "  Literary  ]Sotices,'vpublished  as  editorial, 
all  emanate  from  our  own  establishment,  entirely  uninfluenced  by  authors  or 
publishers,  and  express  nothing  more  nor  less  than  the  reviewer's  unbiassed 
opinion  of  the  contents  of  the  volumes  and  periodicals  laid  before  him. 

We  [<  The  Brother  Jonathan, ']  publish  the  above  in  justice  to  the 
Post,  and  should  have  said  when  the  letters  were  published  that  we  knew 
enough  of  that  establishment  t5  know  that  Mr.  B.  does  not  do  his  puffing 
there.  We  know  where  he  has  done  it,  though,  and  will  publish  the  proofs 
if  he  desires  it.  The  Aurora  pertinently  asks,  "  Mr.  Benjamin,  what  do  you 
say  to  a  first  rate  notice  in  the  Boston  Morning  Post?" 

In  its  September  issue  *  The  Companion  '  vigorously  replied 
t6  its  assailant  in  language  which  reminds  the  reader  that  these 
wer  the  days  of  the  '  Eatanswill  Gazette  '  : — 

As  we  always  avoid  making  our  pages  the  vehicle  of  scurrility,  we  have 
to  request  the  forgiveness  of  our  readers,  if  in  noticing  a  gross  attack  recent 
ly  made  upon  ourselves  and  the  Companion,  by  the  notorious  Park  Benja 
min  in  the  New  World,  we  for  once  sully  them  with  language  repugnant  to 
our  feelings.  . .  Like  the  viper  which  was  warmed  into  existence,  and  repaid 
its  benefactor  with  its  bite,  were  we  repaid  by  this  literary  reptile.  The 
Companion,  which  had  hitherto  been  the  idol  of  his  warm  laudation,  all  at 
once  became  the  victim  of  his  falsehood  and  scurrility.  .  .  Were  aught  re 
quired  to  exhibit  the  nefarious  system  pursued  by  this  literary  hedgehog  for 
a  subsistence,  we  need  only  inform  our  readers  that  it  is  his  constant  prac 
tice  to  entice  unfortunate  authors  to  entrust  their  compositions  to  his  care 
for  supervision  (  ? )  and  sale.  If  he  should  be  fortunate  enough  to  find  a 
purchaser  for  them,  a  heavy  discount  is  then  exacted  from  the  unlucky 
wight ;  if  not,  the  publisher  who  declines  the  negotiation  immediately  be 
comes  the  victim  of  his  scurrilous  attacks.  For  a  full  development  of  his 
conduct  towards  the  Companion  we  refer  our  readers  to  the  publication  of 
certain  letters  of  this  "  Literary  Algerine"  in  the  Brother  Jonathan  of  the 
13th  ultimo. 


H:  J.   RAYMOND.  175 

New  York,  May  17, 1845. 
My  dear  Griswold  : — 

You  are  so  universally  known  to  be  plenipotent  with  booksellers, 
that  I  suppose  you  are  never  surprised  at  being  called  on  to  transact  with 
them  the  business  of  others :— and  I  know  that  your  kindness  will  excuse  a 
commission  from  me.  I  have  been  wanting  for  some  time  to  prepare  for  the 
Courier  a  review,  or  rather  extended  summary,  of  the  History  of  the  Explor 
ing  Expedition,  but  I  have  not  got  the  book.  A  copy  was  sent  to  Col.  Webb, 
who  copied  Chandler's  notice  of  it,  and  of  course  he  will  do  no  more.  King 
also  has  a  copy— but  he  has  so  deep  a  prejudice  against  Wilkes  that  he  would 
never  say  anything  in  his  favor.  And  I,  who  am  the  only  one  likely  to  do  or 
say  anything  about  it,  have  not  the  materials  wherewith  to  d5  it.  And 
moreover  I  need  not  tell  you — wh5  are  perfectly  au  fait  in  newspaper  mat 
ters,  that  there  is  no  great  inducement  for  one  to  write  labored  and  extended 
reviews  when  one  has  not  seen  the  book  to  pay  for  his  trouble.  Now  if 
L[indsay  ]  and  B[lakiston]  think  it  worth  while  to  let  me  have  one  of  the 
$25  copies,  I  will  write  at  least  six,  and  more  likely  ten,  articles  about  it,  for 
the  Courier.  It  strikes  me  that  this  would  be  for  them  a  better  investment 
than  they  have  yet  made,  at  least,  so  far  as  this  paper  is  concerned.  If  you 
can  mention  this  matter  t5  them  incidentally— not  as  by  request  from  me, 
but  as  what  you  know  of  my  wishes,  and  my  ability  concerning  it,  I  should 
be  greatly  obliged  to  you,  and  I  will  very  gladly  write  extended  notices  of 
any  books  of  which  they  may  send  me  a  copy ;  but  when  they  come  to  Col. 
W.  (  who  of  course  is  always  entitled  to  a  copy  when  but  one  comes  ) ,  or  to 
King,  I  shall  of  course  only  write  such  notices  as  are  matters  of  course,— 
Carey  and  Hart  used  to  send  me  ( through  your  mediation  too, )  their  books 
—when  I  was  in  the  Tribune,  and  I  noticed  them  accordingly.  I  know  it's 
hard  to  make  a  publisher  or  any  one  else  believe  that  a  subordinate  Editor 
is  an  Editor  at  all: — but  you  know  enough  of  the  proportion  of  labor  they 
perform,  and  of  the  discretion  they  have,  to  understand  the  matter  better. 

Now,  my  dear  Griswold,  don't  go  a  step  out  of  your  way  to  attend  t5 
this ;  but  should  you  have  a  good  chance  to  speak  to  L.  and  B.,  or  C.  and  H., 
about  it,  you  would  do  me  a  good  service,  and,  I  think,  them  also. 

I  was  very  sorry  not  to  see  more  of  you  when  you  were  here.  I  want 
ed  to  know  more  what  you  are  at  and  how  you  flourish.  I  hope  you  are 
working  at  your  Biographical  Encyclopaedia,  for  I  think  you  can  make  that  a 
matter  worth  a  good'many  years'  labor,  not  only  in  fame  but  in  cash.  There 
is  not  one  extant,  I  believe,  which  could  compete  with  it  at  all,  and  still  it  is 


176  CORNELIUS  MATHEWS. 

precisely  one  of  those  books  which  everyone  would  want.  The  Harpers  are 
in  the  way  of  publishing  a  good  many  valuable  books  of  reference,  and  would 
be  anxious,  I  should  think,  to  secure  that.  Could  you  not  make  better  terms 
with  them  than  elsewhere?  I  merely  suggest  it,  because  I  am  anxious  that 
it  should  yield  you  the  uttermost  farthing.  And  why  cannot  you  get  it 
underway?  Published  in  numbers — with  a  respectable  interval  between — 
you  could  easily  follow  it  up,  and  it  would  be  "  kept  before  the  public"  more 
than  if  issued  in  any  other  way.  .  . 

But  I  will  not  bore  you  with  this  matter.  I  hope  to  see  you  whenever 
you  come  to  N.  Y.  I  am  boarding  now  at  the  N".  Y.  Hotel,  but  shall  soon  be 
housekeeping  at  107  Nineteenth  St.  You  probably  saw  the  Herald's  state 
ment  that  C.  Mathews  had  fallen  heir  to  a  large  estate.  I  am  told  it's  hum 
bug — but  Duyckinck  has  [  illegible  ]  his  new  novel  into  Wiley  &  Putnam's 
series !  Pray  drop  me  a  line  as  soon  as  convenient,  and  believe  me,  as  ever, 

Most  truly  Yours, 

H.  J.  Raymond. 

Cornelius  Mathews  was  a  man-of -letters  wh6se  like  has  not 
been  seen  before  or  since.  He  was  for  many  years  the  con 
stant  subject  for  snubs  and  ridicule  in  almost  every  organ  of 
opinion  except  those  in  which  he  or  his  friend  Duyckinck  had 
a  proprietary  interest.  But  the  more  absurd  he  was  made  t6 
appear,  the  more,  apparently,  he  enjoyd  the  situation,  think 
ing,  apparently,  that  fame  being  unattainable,  notoriety  was  a 
fair  substitute.  He  died  25  March  1889.  Concerning  the 
book  mentiond  by  Raymond,  'The  Knickerbocker'  discoursed 
thus,  beginning  with  a  quotation  from  an  article  by  C.  C. 
Felton  in  the  North  American  Review  : — 

Wiley  and  Putnam's  '  Library  of  American  Books '  is  a  series  which 
with  the  exception  of  a  few  of  the  volumes,  is  not  likely  to  d5  much  honor  to 
American  Literature.  It  is  difficult  to  imagine  what  can  have  seduced  those 
respectable  publishers  into  printing,  as  one  of  the  series,  that  indescribably 
stupid  imitation  of  Dickens,  entitled  and  called  '  Big  Abel  and  Little  Man 
hattan  '.  [  Here  '  The  Knickerbocker '  interrupts  its  contemporary  to  say  that 
"  In  justice  to  the  enterprising  publishers,  it  is  proper  to  explain,  that '  Big 
Abel  and  Little  Manhattan '  was  announced  through  a  misunderstanding,  or 


CORNELIUS  MATHEW8.  177 

without  their  knowledge,  upon  the  cover  of  a  previous  issue,  as  one  of  their 
forthcoming '  American  Books.'  The  author  was  offered  a  cheque  for  a 
hundred  dollars  if  he  would  withdraw  it  from  the  series ;  but  as  it  had  been 
printed  at  his  risk,  he  would  not  consent  to  surrender  an  opportunity  of 
adding  to  his  literary  laurels.  It  is  worthy  of  remark  also,  in  this  connec 
tion,  that  the  '  silly  and  affected  motto,'  to  which  reference  is  had  by  the 
reviewer,  is  from  the  same  luminous  pen  that  traced  of  *  Big  Abel  and  Little 
Manhattan'  the  wondrous  history.  A  library,  however,  which  includes 
among  its  volumes  such  excellent  and  attractive  works  as  '  Mosses  from  an 
Old  Manse'  .  .  .  should  not  be  tabooed  on  account  of  -two  or  three  worthless 
or  uninteresting  publications  ]  a  contribution  to  the  patriotic  native  Ameri 
can  Literature  a  good  deal  worse  than  the  very  worst  things  of  '  The  Yemas- 
see '  and  '  Guy  Rivers.'  Surely,  surely,  this  dismal  trash  cannot  have  been 
seriously  chosen  as  a  fit  representative  of  American  originality,  in  a  '  Library 
of  American  Books ; '  though  it  does  very  well  to  follow  the  silly  and  affected 
motto  which  some  evil-disposed  person  has  persuaded  them  to  adopt  from 
the  Address  of  the  American  Copyright  Club. " 

A  year  before  the  North- American  had  paid  its  respects  to 
Mathews  as  folios  : — 

Mr.  Mathews  has  shown  a  marvellous  skill  in  failing,  each  failure  be 
ing  more  complete  than  the  last.  His  comedy  of  '  The  Politician '  is  'the 
most  lamentable  comedy; '  and  the  reader  exclaims,  with  Hippolyta,  ;  This 
is  the  silliest  stuff  that  ever  I  heard.'  The  *  Career  of  Puffer  Hopkins '  is  an 
elaborately  bad  imitation  of  Dickens ;  and  must  be  ranked  in  fiction  where 
'  The  Politicians  '  stands  in  the  drama.  It  aims  at  being  comical,  and  satiri 
cal  upon  the  times.  The  author  studies  hard  to  portray  the  motley  charac 
ters  which  move  before  the  observer  in  a  large  city;  but  he  has  not  enough 
of  the  vision  and  the  faculty  divine  to  make  them  more  than  melancholy 
ghosts  of  what  they  profess  to  be.  The  attempts  at  humor  are  inexpressibly 
dismal ;  the  burlesque  overpowers  the  most  determined  reader,  by  its  leaden 
dulness.  The  style  is  ingeniously  tasteless  and  feeble.  He  who  has  read  it 
through  can  do  or  dare  anything.  Mr.  Mathews  suffers  from  several  errone 
ous  opinions.  He  seems  to  think  that  literary  elegance  consists  in  the  very 
qualities  which  make  elegance  impossible.  Simplicity  and  directness  of 
language  he  abominates." 

After   quoting   the   foregoing,    *  The    Knickerbocker '    con 
tinues  : — 


178  CORNELIUS  MATHEWS. 

There  are  two  things  for  which  we  applaud  the  author  of  *  Big  Abel ; » 
first,  his  choice  of  American  subjects  in  composing  his  books,  although  his 
bald  imitations  of  foreign  authors  make  his  merits  in  this  respect  of  very 
little  account;  and  secondly,  his  advocacy  of  an  international  copyright. 
By  the  by,  it  may  not  be  amiss  to  remark  here,  that  there  have  been 
some  amusing  '  illustrations '  of  the  necessity  of  an  international  copyright 
law  by  two  or  three  of  the  new  dynasty  of  litterateurs,  whose  pen-and-ink 
works  are  '  without  demand,'  as  the  prices-current  have  it.  These  <  minor' 
writers,  who  lament  that  their  'book-making'  efforts  are  rendered 
nugatory  solely  by  the  want  of  an  international  copyright  law,  are  very  justly 
rebuked  in  these  words,  by  the  'Courier  and  Enquirer':  'We  dislike  the 
prevalent  cant  about  the  hopeless  condition  of  American  authors.  Ameri 
can  books  are  not  now  published  for  the  first  time,  nor  have  books  worthy 
of  favor  failed  in  general  to  receive  it;  as  the  works  of  Irving,  Prescott, 
Cooper,  Bancroft,  Story,  Wheaton,  and  at  least  a  score  of  others,  can  abun 
dantly  testify.  These  we  regard  as  the  '  red-letter  names '  of  American  lit 
erature  ;  and  although  we  are  glad  to  see  the  productions  of  some  of  our 
minor  writers  about  to  be  issued  we  dislike  the  effort  to  hide  greater  and 
brighter  names  beneath  their  shadow.  There  is  no  '  patriotism  '  or  '  family 
pride,'  which  should  lead  an  American  to  prefer  a  bad  book,  or  one  of 
mediocre  merit,  to  a  thoroughly  good  one.'  These  are  our  Knickerbocker's 
sentiments  precisely ;  for  the  expression  of  which,  when  we  have  had  occa 
sion,  we  are  denounced  by  one  of  the  scribes  whom  we  have  exposed,  as  an 
'enemy  in  the  camp  of  American  literature.'  American  'literature' I 
Pish !  ]  ;  although  his  pertinacity  in  obtruding  his  name  in  connexion  with 
this  object  has  done  it  infinite  harm,  by  preventing  influential  men  from 
giving  it  their  countenance,  as  they  naturally  felt  unwilling,  in  a  cause  like 
this,  to  play  « second  fiddle '  to  the  author  of  *  Puffer  Hopkins.'  But  enough : 
let  it  suffice  to  say,  in  conclusion,  that  Mr.  Mathews  has  been  so  often,  and 
in  such  a  variety  of  ways,  tried  in  the  literary  balance, '  and  found  wanting,' 
that  we  have  no  alternative  left  us  but  to  dismiss  him  to  the  unsatisfactory 
notoriety  or  the  enviable  oblivion  which  awaits  him ;  for  as  '  an  author '  he 
can  only  pass  without  ridicule  when  he  passes  without  observation. 

In  January   1847,    'The   Knickerbocker'   had  the  folloing 
amusing  squib : — 

We  have  seldom  seen  a  better  satire  than  is  conveyed  in  one  of  the 
recent '  English  Letters,'  written  from  London  to  the  '  Evening  Mirror,'  by 


J-AMBS  AND  SIMMS.  179 

a  most  veracious  gentleman  who  signs  himself  *  F.  M.  Pinto,'  probably  a 
relative  of  the  great  Ferdinand  Mendez  himself.  Mr.  Pinto  is  a  guest  at 
Eton-Hall,  not  a  great  way  from  Liverpool,  where  all  Americans  make  it  a 
point  to  go  shortly  after  landing  in  England ;  and  there  he  encounters  James, 
the  novelist,  each  having  been  apprised  that  they  were  to  meet : 

"  Sauntering  into  the  library,  after  having  taken  a  stroll  through  the 
conservatories,  I  saw  a  slender  gentleman,  dressed  in  a  rather  jaunty  man 
ner,  with  a  light  blue  coat  and  silver  buttons,  with  a  green  shade  over  his 
eyes,  examining  an  illuminated  copy  of  Froissart.  Th£re  was  no  other  per 
son  th6re,  and  as  I  entered,  he  looked  up  from  the  book  and  said : 

'  Ah !    I  presume  this  is  the  celebrated  Mr.  Pinto,  from  America?' 

'  The  same,'  I  replied,  with  an  honest  blush  at  hearing  myself  Called 
'  celebrated '  by  a  stranger. 

'"Well,' he  said, 'I  am  the  celebrated  Mr.  James,  the  novelist.  I  am 
happy  to  see  the  countryman  of  Cooper,  Ingraham  and  Hopkins.' 

1  "What! '  I  exclaimed,  grasping  him  by  the  hand, '  do  I  behold  the  real 
G.  P.  E.  James,  the  author  of  that  prolific  Novel  which  has  appeared  under 
so  many  different  names? ' 

'  The  same,  Sir,'  he  replied,  embracing  me  warmly.  '  Pray,  Mr.  Pinto, 
are  my  works  read  in  America?' 

'  Your  work,  I  presume  you  mean,'  I  replied  :  (  why,  my  dear  Sir,  it 
is  published  once  a  month  regularly  by  one  of  our  great  publishers,  and 
always  with  a  new  title.  The  last  time  I  think  it  was  called  '  Morley 
Ernstein.'  Can  you  tell  me  what  it  will  be  called  next? ' 

'  I  have  already  chosen  the  name  of  '  Beauchamp ','  he  replied ;  *  don't 
you  think  it  a  good  novelesque  name?' 

'  Admirable,'  said  I.  *  Now  let  me  ask  you,  Mr.  James,  whSre  you 
obtained  that  brilliant  idea  of  beginning  your  novel  by  describing  elaborately 
a  horseman  and  so  forth, «  who  might  have  been  seen  at  the  close  of  an 
autumnal  day?'  And  also  allow  me  to  inquire  whether  or  not  anything  of 
the  sort  ever  was  seen  ? ' 

'  Oh,  I  understand,'  said  the  great  author;  '  why,  that  is  a  trick  of  my 
confounded  amanuensis,  who  is  a  shocking  mannerist.  I  observe  that  your 
distinguished  countryman,  Mr.  Simms,  has  copied  that,  as  well  as  the  other 
little  faults  of  my  novels,  very  faithfully.  Do  you  know  that  my  publisher 
once  accused  me  of  issuing  one  of  my  novels  under  the  name  of  Simms? 
Fact.  Somebody  sent  him  a  copy  of  *  Guy  Rivers,'  and  he  swore  I  wrote  it ! '  " 

It  strikes  us  that  the  power  of  the  burlesque  in  association  could  no 


180  CORNELIUS  MATHEWS. 

farther  go  than  in  Mr.  James's  classification  of  our  '  distinguished '  authors, 
Cooper,  Ingraham  and  *  Puffer  Hopkins' ! 

[In  a  later  letter,  Pinto ]  "describes  a  breakfast  at  Bogers',  where  the 
following,  among  other  conversation,  took  place : 

"  Bulwer,  who  had  been  watching  his  opportunity  to  say  a  word,  now 
remarked  that  he  had  just  received  a  copy  of  the  '  Literary  World'  [then 
edited  by  Mathews  and  Duyckinck  ]  from  New-York,  and  was  happy  to  see 
from  the  booksellers',  as  well  as  by  the  editorial  matter,  that  the  Americans 
still  gave  the  preference  to  English  books.  '  That  was  an  excellent  idea,' 
'  of  establishing  a  paper  of  your  own,  to  review  our  books  after  they  have 
been  noticed  in  the  forty  or  fifty  literary  journals  of  this  country ;  because 
your  critic  will  have  the  benefit  of  all  the  opinions  that  have  been  expressed 
abroad  before  he  ventures  to  give  his  own,  if  he  should  happen  to  have  any. 
I  suppose  that  your  critic,  instead  of  reading  the  book  which  he  criticizes, 
just  takes  and  reads  some  half  a  dozen  or  more  reviews  of  it  in  our  journals, 
and  then  makes  a  review  out  of  them.'  I  replied,  indignantly,  that  my  liter 
ary  countrymen  were  entirely  independent  of  foreign  criticism,  and  that 
they  put  no  value  whatever  on  English  reviews  in  particular.  To  which  he 
replied,  '  Walker! '  evidently  being  very  much  disconcerted,  and  not  know 
ing  what  else  to  say. " 

Wholesome  and  just  satire  this, '  which  nobody  can  deny.' 

Later  in  the  same  year  *  Blackwood's '  expressd  a  like  opin 
ion  of  Mathews  : — 

How  it  happens  that  the  publishers  have  admitted  to  the  '  Library  of 
American  Books  '—as  if  it  were  a  book— a  thing  called  *  Big  Abel  and  the 
Little  Manhattan,'  is  to  us,  at  this  distance  from  the  scene  of  operations, 
utterly  inexplicable.  It  is  just  possible  that  the  author  may  have  earned  a 
reputable  name  in  some  other  department  of  letters  (  ! ) ;  pity,  then,  he 
should  forfeit  both  it  and  his  character  for  sanity  by  this  outrageous  attempt 
at  humor.  Perhaps  he  is  the  potent  editor  of  some  American  broadsheet, 
of  which  publishers  stand  in  awe.  We  know  not;  of  this  only  are  we  sure, 
that  more  heinous  trash  was  never  before  exposed  to  public  view.  We  read 
two  chapters  of  it — more,  we  are  persuaded,  than  any  other  person  in  Eng 
land  has  accomplished — and  then  threw  it  aside  with  a  sort  of  charitable  con 
tempt.  For  the  sake  of  all  parties,  readers,  critics,  publishers  and  the 
author  himself,  it  should  be  buried  at  once  out  of  sight,  with  other  things 
noisome  and  corruptible. ' 


CORNELIUS  MATHEWS.  181 

Griswold,  meanwhile,  had  publishd  his  '  Prose  Writers,'  and 
his  view  of  Mathews  is  summarized  by  *  The  Knickerbocker ' 
thus : — 

Mr.  Griswold  joins  the  '  North-American  Review,'  the  Knickerbocker, 
and  we  may  now  add,  the  '  Democratic  Review,'  *  in  animadverting  upon 
those  distinctive  characteristics  of  these  writers  which  we  have  heretofore 
been  compelled,  in  the  conscientious  discharge  of  our  duty  to  our  readers,  t5 
condemn.  For  example,  Mr.  Griswold  observes  that  in  the  writings  of  Mr. 
Simms  our  attention  is  sometimes  engrossed  by  actions, '  but,'  he  adds,  'we 
feel  no  sympathy  with  the  actors.  He  gives  us  too  much  of  ruffianism.  The 
coarseness  and  villany  of  many  of  his  characters  have  no  attraction  in  works 
of  the  imagination.  If  true  to  nature,  which  may  be  doubted,  it  is  not  true 
to  nature  as  we  love  to  contemplate  it,  and  it  serves  no  good  purpose  in 
literature.  Mr.  Simms  does  not  discriminate  between  what  is  irredeemably 
base  and  revolting,  and  what  by  the  hand  of  art  may  be  made  subservient  to 
the  exhibition  of  beauty.'  This  is  almost  the  very  language  of  the  Knicker 
bocker.  Concerning  Mr.  Mathews,  our  author  speaks  with  equal  justice  and 
severity :  '  The  style  of  Mr.  Mathews  is  unnatural,  and  in  many  places  indicates 
a  mind  accustomed  to  the  contemplation  of  vulgar  depravity.  Who  would 
think  of  finding  such  names  as  ' Hobbleshank,'  'Greasy  Peterson,'  '  Fish- 
blatt,'  or  *  Flab,'  in  Washington  Irving  or  Nathaniel  Hawthorne?  But  they 
are  characteristic  of  *  Puffer  Hopkins,'  His  language  is  sometimes  affectedly 
quaint,  and  when  more  natural,  though  comparatively  fresh,  it  is  rude  and 
uncouth.  Some  writers  are  said  to  advance  on  stilts;  our  author  may  be 
said  to  proceed  difficultly,  jerkingly  through  mire.  The  charge  of  a  want  of 
nationality  is  somewhat  stale ;  but  as  copies  of  the  works  of  Mr.  Mathews 
have  gone  abroad,  it  is  proper  to  say  that  nothing  has  ever  been  printed  in 
this  country  that  exhibits  less  the  national  character.  It  is  not  intended  here 
to  say  that  'The  Politician'  and  'Puffer  Hopkins' are  German,  French,  or 

*  The  '  Democratic  Review'  for  March,  in  a  commendatory  notice  of 
.  .  . '  Library  of  Choice  Reading,'  considers  it  as  unfortunate  that  the  pub 
lishers  should  have  provoked  a  comparison  with  that  series  and  one  so 
unfavorable  to  our  national  pride  as  their  '  Library  of  American  Books.'  It 
would  have  been  better,  the  writer  contends,  not  to  have  published  any  of 
the  several  books  in  this  series  than  to  have  given  to  the  public  the  '  lame 
and  impotent'  efforts  of  Mr.  Mathews,  and  the  'intolerable  diffuseness  and 
endless  drawl  of  words '  which  distinguish  the  writings  of  Mr.  Simms. 


182  CORNELIUS  MATHEWS. 

English,  but  merely  that  they  are  not  ill  any  kind  or  degree  American.  The 
most  servile  of  all  our  copyists  have  thus  far  been  those  who  have  talked 
most  of  originality,  as  if  to  divert  attention  from  their  felt  deficiencies  in  this 
respect.  «  Young  America'  had  not  wit  enough  to  coin  for  himself  a  name, 
but  must  parody  one  used  in  England ;  and  in  its  pronunciamento  in  favor 
of  a  fresh  and  vigorous  literature  it  adopts  a  quaint  phraseology,  that  so  far 
from  having  been  born  here,  or  even  naturalized,  was  never  known  among 
us,  except  to  the  readers  of  very  old  books  and  the  '  Address  of  the  Copy 
right  Club.1  In  all  its  reviews  of  literature  and  art,  the  standards  are  Eng 
lish,  which  would  be  well  enough,  perhaps,  if  they  were  English  standards, 
but  they  are  the  fifth. rate  men  with  whose  writings  only  their  own  can  be 
compared.  .  .  Their  very  clamor  about «  Americanism'  is  borrowed  from  the 
most  worthless  foreign  scribblers,  and  has  reference  chiefly  to  the  compara 
tively  unimportant  matter  of  style.  Of  genuine  nationality  they  seem  to 
have  no  just  apprehension.  It  has  little  to  do  with  any  peculiar  collocation 
of  words,  but  is  the  pervading  feeling  and  opinion  of  a  country,  leavening 
all  its  written  thoughts." 

This  not  only  '  hits  the  nail  on  the  head ' ;  it  drives  it  home,  and  buries 
it.  We  quite  agree  with  Mr.  Griswold  in  the  remark,  that  «  of  all  absurd 
schemes,  the  absurdest  is  that  of  creating  a  national  literature  by  inventing 
tricks  of  speech,  or  by  any  sort  of  forced  originality;  of  which  fact,  proof 
enough  may  be  found  in  the  writings  of  Mr.  Mathews. ' 

Naturally,  Mathews  and  his  friends  (  Duyckinck  and  W : 
A.  Jones )  s6t  to  minimize  the  influence  of  a  work  which  held 
such  views,  but  their  success  seems  not  to  hav  been  great : — 

We  [  Knickerbocker,  May  1847  ]  quite  agree  with  the  *  Courier  and 
Enquirer'  daily  journal,  that  the  reviews  of  Griswold's  '  Prose-Writers  of 
America'  which  have  appeared  in  the  '  Democratic  Review  >  and  '  The  Liter 
ary  World'  are  '  very  shabby,  very  weak,  and  show  only  uneasy  malice.' 
We  understand  that  the  '  Southern  Literary  Messenger'  has  been  hired,  by  a 
species  of  literary  '  dicker'  of  no  particular  value,  to  republish  one  or  both 
of  those  notices.  It  is  well  remarked  by  the  '  Boston  Courier,'  that  Mr. 
Griswold  and  the  public  know  too  well  how  this  *  independent  criticism '  is 
prepared  and  managed,  *  to  be  at  all  affected  by  malevolence  in  the  mask  of 
candor,  or  to  have  any  difficulty  in  detecting  the  whine  of  whipped  conceit 
or  the  howl  of  mortified  vanity  in  the  disguise  of  affected  sneer.  Mr.  Gris 
wold's  book  has  been  executed  honestly,  ably  and  well ;  and  is  a  valuable 
contribution  to  the  original  literature  of  the  country.' 


CARLYLE  ON   COPYRIGHT.  183 

International  copyright  had  often  been  discussed,  but  the 
public  took  no  interest  in  it  before  the  visit  of  Dickens  in  1(842. 
No  statement  of  the  case  equalld  in  vigor  and  simplicity 
Carlyle's  letter,  which,  throu  Dickens,  receivd  wide  atten 
tion  : — 

Templand,*  (for  London, )  26  March,  1842. 
My  Dear  Sir : 

We  learn  by  the  newspapers  that  you  everywhere  in  America 
stir  up  the  question  of  International  Copyright  and  thereby  awaken  huge 
dissonance  where  all  else  were  triumphant  unison  for  you.  I  am  asked  my 
opinion  of  the  matter— and  requested  to  write  it  down  in  words. 

Several  years  ago  if  memory  err  not,  I  was  one  of  many  English 
writers  who,  under  the  auspices  of  Miss  Martineau,  did  sign  a  petition  to 
Congress,  praying  for  an  International  Copyright  between  the  two  nations, 
which,  properly,  are  not  two  nations— but  one— indivisible  by  Parliament, 
Congress,  or  any  kind  of  human  law  or  diplomacy,  being  already  united  by 
Heaven's  act  of  Parliament,  and  the  everlasting  law  of  Nature  and  Fact.  To 
that  opinion  I  shall  still  adhere,  and  I  am  like  to  continue  adhering. 

In  discussion  of  the  matter  before  any  Congress  or  Parliament,  mani 
fold  considerations  and  argumentations  will  necessarily  arise,  which  to  me 
are  not  interesting  nor  essential  for  helping  me  to  a  decision.  They  respect 
the  time  and  manner  in  which  the  thing  should  be,  not  at  all  whether  the 
thing  should  be  or  not.  In  an  ancient  Book,  reverenced,  I  should  hope,  on 
both  sides  of  the  Ocean,  it  was  thousands  of  years  ago  written  down,  in  the 
most  decided  and  explicit  manner,  'Thou  shalt  not  steal.'  That  thou  be- 
longest  to  a  different '  nation '  and  canst  steal  without  being  certainly  hanged 
for  it,  gives  thee  no  permission  to  steal.  Thou  shalt  not  in  anywise  steal  at 
all !  So  it  is  written  down  for  Nations  and  for  Men,  in  the  Law  Book  of  the 
Maker  of  this  Universe.  Nay  poor  Jeremy  Bentham  and  others  step  in 
here,  and  will  demonstrate  that  it  is  actually  our  true  convenience  and 
expediency  not  to  steal ;  which  I,  for  my  share  on  the  great  scale,  and  on  the 
small,  and  in  all  conceivable  scales  and  shapes  do  most  firmly  believe  it  to 
be.  For  example,  if  nations  abstained  from  stealing,  what  need  were  there 
of  fighting— with  its  butcherings  and  burnings— decidedly  the  most  expens- 

*  Templand  was  a  farm  in  Nithsdale  which  was  the  home  of  Mrs. 
Carlyle's  mother.  She  had  died  in  the  winter  of  1842. 


184  INTERNATIONAL  COPYRIGHT. 

ive  thing  in  this  world?  How  much  more  tw5  nations  which,  as  I  said,  are 
but  one  Nation  knit  in  a  thousand  ways  by  Nature  and  Practical  intercourse; 
indivisible  brother  elements  of  4he  same  great  Saxendom,  to  which  in  all 
honorable  ways  be  long  life ! 

When  Mr.  Robert  Roy  McGregor  lived  in  the  district  of  Menteith,  on 
the  Highland  border,  two  centuries  ago,  he,  for  his  part,  found  it  more  con 
venient  to  supply  himself  with  beef  by  stealing  it  alive  from  the  adjacent 
glens,  than  by  buying  it  killed  in  the  Stirling  butcher's  Market.  It  was  Mr. 
Roy's  plan  of  supplying  himself  with  beef  in  those  days— this  of  stealing  it 
In  many  a  little  '  Congress  '  in  the  district  of  Menteith,  there  was  debating, 
doubt  it  not,  and  much  specious  argumentation  this  way  and  that  before 
they  could  ascertain  that,  really  and  truly,  buying  was  the  best  way  to  get 
your  beef,  which,  however,  in  the  long  run  they  did  with  one  assent  find  it 
indisputably  to  be,  and  accordingly  they  hold  by  it  to  this  day. 

Wishing  you  a  pleasant  voyage,  and  a  swift  and  safe  return,  I  remain 
always,  My  dear  sir,  yours,  very  sincerely, 

Thomas  Carlyle. 

Here  was  a  new  opportunity   for  Mathews  t6  attract  atten 
tion,  and  he  was  not  slo  in  seizing  it : — 

We  [  <  The  Knickerbocker,'  Sept.  1842  ]  say  it  in  no  spirit  of  vain 
glory ;  but  all  the  arguments  advanced  in  '  P.'s '  paper  on  *  Copyright'  have 
already  been  employed  by  '  Ollapod,'  Mr.  Washington  Irving,  and  the  Edi 
tor,  in  these  pages.  International  Copyright  is  founded  on  the  immutable 
laws  of  truth  and  justice,  and  it  will  sooner  or  later  be  incorporated  in  our 
national  statute-book.  It  is  not  impossible,  however,  that  the  period  of  its 
adoption  may  be  retarded  by  the  crude  and  violent  advocacy  of  certain 
small  litterateurs  among  us  who  are  riding  it  as  a  hobby ;  whose  apparent 
aim  for  the  protection  of  their  own  <  works '  against  British  competition 
gives  the  wrhole  question  an  air  of  burlesque  in  the  eyes  of  many  here,  and 
exerts  a  positive  influence  against ( the  right.' 


New  York,  May  23, 1845. 
Rufus  W.  Griswold,  Old  Friend : 

Our  friend  [G:  G.]  Foster  has  got  up  Shelley's  Poems  in  the 
best  style,  with  appropriate  introductions,  etc.  There  is  not  a  copy  of  them 
to  be  had  here,  and  I  presume  not  in  the  Country.  You  know  they  ought  to 
be  published,  and  yet  there  is  no  house  here  that  is  fit  to  do  it.  Won't  you 


HOFFMAN  ON  FRENEAU.  185 

speak  to  Carey  and  Hart  about  it?  There  is  no  risk,  and  Foster  don't  stand  on 
terms,  unless  they  ask  pay  from  Mm,  and  that  you  know  is  inadmissible. 
Just  have  them  brought  out,  or  write  me  about  the  matter  anyhow.  Yours, 

Horace  Greeley. 


June  28th,  1845. 

.  .  .  How  stand  you  »'  Philadelphia  air"  now?  It  must  be  as  hot 
as  tophet.  Here  we  have  the  thermometer  at  85  in  the  shade,  but  a  sea 
breeze  night  and  morning  that  refreshes  one  mightily  to  go  through  the  day. 
At  Brooklyn  there  has  not  been  a  night  when  I  could  not  sleep  under  a 
blanket,  and  this  morning  in  crossing  the  ferry  the  water  was  so  rough  that 
the  steamers  actually  careened  to  the  wind. 

Yet  I  am  dripping  from  "  exuding  pores  "  while  writing  this.  I  would 
bet  now  that  at  the  very  hours  when  we  have  the  breezes  you  have  a  sort  of 
leaden,  "  muggy,"  sky  at  Philadelphia,  and  then  you  have  a  kind  of  sticky 
feeling  under  your  clothes  all  day,  feeling,  the  while,  as  if  you  would  like  to 
be  stripped  and  rubbed  with  lime  juice  and. sweet  oil  to  lubricate  you. 
Come  to  the  ocean  banks,  come  to  the  sea-foamy  tide — come  snuff  the  brine 
and  see  the  porpoises  in  motion — come  hither  my  friend  while  you  have  any 
liver  to  bring  along  with  you,  and  the  sea  air  will  pickle  it  into  health  in  a 
trice.  Yours  always, 

C.  F.  H[offman]. 


New  York,  June  30,  1845. 
My  Dear  Griswold : 

...  I  may  here  add,  as  you  d5  not  mention  the  place  of  his  birth, 
that  Philip  Frenau  was  born  in  Beekman  Street,  New  York,  as  Dr.  Francis 
and,  I  think,  Mr.  Rapelje  will  tell  you. 

Do  you  know,  I  think  you  missed  it  in  not  giving  him  more  room; — 
that  piece  "  His  blanket  tied  with  yellow  strings,"  etc.  should  have  been  in. 
There  is  more  of  nature  and  poetry  about  him  than  in  all  the  Yankees  that 
follow  till  you  come  to  Hillhouse.  D wight,  Barlow  etc.,  were  men  of  great 
intellectual  vigor  but  their  poetry  was  an  exercise  of  mental  ingenuity  merely. 
Freneau,  if  half  an  idiot,  would  still  have  had  more  poetry  in  the  other 
half  than  could  have  been  squeezed  out  of  all  the  others  boiled  down  to  a 
consomme".  I  am  my  Dear  Doctor,  Yours,  etc., 

C.  F.  Hoffman. 


186  POE  AND  TUCKERMAN. 

Tribune  Office,  New  York,  July  3rd,  '45. 
R.  W.  Griswold,  Esq.,  My  Reverend  Friend  : 

Miss  Fuller  and  I  greatly  desiderate  a  set  of  "  Hood's  Works," 
or  so  near  them  us  you  can  come,  preliminary  to  an  article  on  Hood  for  The 
Tribune.  Will  you  send  us  by  Express  a  set  of  those  works,  as  soon  as  you 
can,  whether  your  own  or  some  goodnatured  friend's?  Yours,  in  the  love 

of  Cheap  Postage, 

Horace  Greeley. 

P.  S. — I  will  thank  you  not  to  be  out  of  town  when  this  reaches  the 
Quaker  City. 

New  York,  July  11, 1845. 
MyJ)ear  Doctor: 

I  saw  Tuckerman  last  night,  who  told  me  that  he  had  rec'd  a 
letter  from  you  in  which  you  spoke  of  expecting  one  from  me  in  reply  to 
something  you  had  written  lately.  I  really  do  not  know  t5  what  this  alludes 
for  I  have  answered  all  your  letters  for  some  months  the  moment  I  received 
them.  They  generally  contain  something  about  my  getting  proof  "next 
week  "  a  phrase  that  seems  to  have  about  as  much  meaning  as  "  your  Humble 
Servant"  when  the  writer  has  no  idea  of  serving  at  all. 

And  so,  as  I  learn  from  Tuckerman,  you  publish  your  letters  on  Liter 
ature  in  the  Intelligencer.  I  saw  an  extract  from  one  in  the  Mirror,  and 
expected  daily  [more  of  ?]  them  from  you  to  copy  into  the  Gazette.  The 
Intelligencer  I  do  not  see.  The  Alleghanian,  as  I  told  Tuckerman,  would  be 
a  good  paper  for  them  to  appear  in.  This  paper  [  R :  Grant]  White,  who  is 
the  sole  Editor,  tells  me  is  getting  along  bravely.  The  Broadway  Journal 
stopped  for  a  week  t5  let  Briggs  step  ashore  with  his  luggage,  and  they  are 
now  getting  up  steam  to  drive  it  ahead  under  Captains  Poe  and  Watson.  I 
think  it  will  soon  stop  again  to  land  one  of  these.  Let  me  tell  you  a  good 
joke.  Poe  and  Tuckerman  met  for  the  first  time  last  night, — and  how? 
They  each,  upon  invitation,  repaired  to  the  Rutgers  Institute,  where  they 
sat  alone  together  as  a  Committee  upon  young  ladies'  compositions.  Odd, 
isn't  it,  that  the  women,  who  divide  so  many,  should  bring  these  two  to 
gether  !  .  .  . 

H  [  offman  ] . 

'     New  York,  July  17, 1845. 
Reverend  and  Dear  Sir : 

Greeley  informs  me  that  you  are  the  only  antiquarian  to  whom 
to  apply  for  old  books— I  want  a  set  of  Brown's  Novels  ( Charles  Brockden). 
You  have  got  them— of  course  you  will  send  them  t5  me. 


C:    BROCKDEN   BROWN.  187 

I  propose  to  republish  them  in  25  cent  volumes,  and  from  what  I  have 
read  of  them  (I  am  now  reading  Arthur  Mervyu),  I  feel  sure  they  will  sell 
as  well  as  any  modern  novel.  The  last  edition  was  Goodrich's,  Boston,  1827, 
and  copies  are  very  scarce. 

An  introduction,  original,  ought  to  be  given,  and  you  could  write  it — 
and  if  you  give  me  the  books  and  Preface,  I  will  give  you  $25.  Recollect  I 
am  now  as  poor  as  Job's  Turkey,  and  wish  to  strike  when  I  can  d5  so  with 
out  molestation. 

Suggest  some  good,  old,  rare  and  standard  book,— none  knows  better 
what  will  go. 

I  can  get  all  but  "  Ormond  "  here— but  would  like  a  complete  set — I 
cannot  find  that  at  any  of  the  old  libraries. 

Please  t5  give  me  an  early  answer,  for  if  I  begin,  I  wish  to  begin  soon, 
yet  not  to  publish  till  fall.  Yours  truly, 

[Jonas]  Winchester. 


New  York,  July  29, 1845. 
My  Reverend  Friend : 

The  clock  strikes  eight  P.  M.,  the  stage  starts  for  Harlem;  and  I 
let  it  go  and  leave  me  here  to  scrawl  you  a  hasty  note.  I  am  debtor  to  the 
Greek  and  t5  Barbarian  in  the  matter  of  letters,  and  I  must  take  the  benefit 
of  the  act, — there  is  no  help  for  it.  The  work  I  have  promised  to  do  would 
br6ak  an  elephant's  back,  and  here  I  am,  badgered  to  death  by  all  sorts  of 
people  from  9  A.  M.  to  late  in  the  afternoon  before  I  can  begin  to  write; 
then  the  paper  must  be  attended  to,  and  eight  strikes,  the  stage  goes,  and  I 
must  go  with  it,  leaving  letters  to  take  care  of  themselves,— such  is  my  daily 
life. 

Let  me  try  to  give  you,  in  my  own  loose  way,  my  ideas  of  our  Political 
Economists.  Alexander  Hamilton  was  the  first  of  them,  in  more  senses 
than  one,  as  indeed  he  was  first  in  a  good  many  things.  Hamilton  essen 
tially  founded  our  Government;  Marshall  cemented  and  preserved  it. 
Jefferson  has  written  some  very  shrewd,  strong  things  on  this  as  on  other 
questions,  but  he  always  wrote  what  the  exigencies  of  the  moment  ( that  is, 
his  interests  or  his  prejudices)  required,  and  he  is  consequently  glaringly 
inconsistent.  See  'his  letters  to  B.  Austin,  1816,  and  one  he  wrote  in  '23  or 
>4.  Madison  has  written  ably  and  luminously  on  this  subject,  and  some 
things  he  has  said  have  a  permanent  value.  Much  of  Hamilton's  great 
Report  combats  objections  t5  the  Protective  policy  which  are  no  longer 


188  POLITICAL  ECONOMISTS. 

urged,  and  so  has  only  a  historic  value  remaining.  Old  John  Adams  wrote 
nothing  on  the  subject  worth  speaking  of;  and  John  Quincy,  though  he  has 
written  considerably  upon  it,  sometimes  ably,  does  not  well  understand  it, 
or  did  not  when  he  came  into  Congress.  Monroe  knew  very  little,  as  we  all 
know ;  Jackson  ditto  to  Jefferson  in  all  respects.  Matthew  Carey  has  written 
a  good  deal  on  the  subject — very  good  practically,  though  without  a  very 
profound  acquaintance  with  his  subject.  Hezekiah  Niles  ditto ;  Niles  has 
done  great  good.  Condy  Raquet  [1784-42]  has  written  ingeniously  and 
acutely  on  the  extreme  Free  Trade  side ;  his  writings  were  formerly  known 
in  Europe;  Dr.  Cooper  of  Pa.  wrote  forcibly  in  favor  of  Protection,  Dr. 
Cooper  of  S.  Carolina  ( the  same  coon)  wrote  very  strongly  against  Protec 
tion.  Messrs.  Clay,  Tod  of  Pa.,  and  Baldwin  ( late  Judge  1,  have  been  emin 
ent  among  the  practical  expositors  of  the  subject.  Mr.  Clay  has  discussed  it 
with  a  consistency  and  lucid  ability  very  rarely  surpassed.  No  man  has  been 
more  happy  in  his  treatment  of  the  subject  in  what  I  consider  its  secondary 
aspect;  but  he  has  written  little  that  will  not  w£ar  out  in  the  change  of 
times.  C.  C.  Cowley  has  written  and  spoken  voluminously  on  the  subject. 
Rollin  C.  Mallory  of  Vermont  was  the  successor  of  Tod,  Baldwin  and  Clay 
in  Congress,  and  sustained  the  Protective  policy  with  industry  and  ability. 
Mr.  Webster  has  spoken  ably  on  both  sides  of  this  question,  as  the  circum 
stances  of  the  country  were  favorable — before  1824  for  Free  Trade,  since  then 
for  Protection,  Mr.  Calhoun  vice  versa.  Mr.  Calhoun,  however,  takes  a 
deeper  view  of  the  subject  than  any  of  the  public  speakers  of  our  time. 

Of  our  books  on  the  subject  little  is  to  said.  McVickar  stole  what  little 
he  professes  to  say  on  his  own  hook  from  McCulloch,  etc.  But  Francis 
Wayland  has  written  about  the  best  Free  Trade  book  extant,  very  cogent, 
clear  and  taking.  There  has  been  no  better  summary  of  the  question  since 
Say's.  These  are  my  crude  notions,  they  may  be  erroneous;  say  what  you 
please. 

I  have  your  Hoods  and  will  try  to  return  them  tomorrow. 

What  can  you  send  us  of  Robert  Browning,  published  by  Moxon? 
Miss  Fuller  wants  Paracelsus,  Sordello,  etc.,  especially  Sordello.  Can  you 
lend  it  to  us? 

We  have  begun  your  letters,  though  awfully  crowded.  Luck  to  you. 
Write.  Yours, 

Horace  Greeley. 


THEODORE   PARKER.  189 

New  York,  Aug.  5,  1845. 
My  Dear  Doctor : 

I  have  received  a  Philadelphia  paper  containing  one  of  your 
letters  to  the  National  Intelligencer  which  I  was  upon  the  point  of  handing  in 
as  "copy  "  for  the  Gazette,  when  upon  a  second  look  at  it  I  found  it  was 
"No.  III."  of  the  series.  It  is  eloquently  written  but  ( in  a  degree )  I  find 
the  same  fault  with  it  that  I  did  with  your  lecture— it  is  too  oracularly  posi 
tive. 

For  example :— it  may  be  true  that  "  the  learning  of  Webster  is  more 
varied  and  profound  than  that  of  Burke,"  but  I  "  doubt  it  most  damnably;" 
and  I  or  no  other  man  would  have  any  hesitation  in  giving  a  flat  denial  to  so 
positive  an  assertion  without  troubling  myself  to  look  farther.  But  had  you 
said  "  and  surprising  as  were  the  well  known  general  acquisitions  of  Burke, 
it  is  believed  by  many,  equally  familiar  with  the  rich  mental  resources  of 
both  these  great  men,  that  Webster,  alike  in  variety  and  profundity  of  learn 
ing,  is  not  inferior  to  the  all-accomplished  Englishman,  while  some,  not 
without  reason,  insist  that  he  is  immeasurably  his  superior.  And  however 
it  may  trouble  some  of  his  readers,  who  are  unfamiliar  with  the  extent  of 
Mr.  Webster's  acquirements,  the  writer  of  this  essay  has  no  hesitation  in 
classing  himself  with  those  who  have  challenged  this  comparison  in  favor  of 
the  gifted  American.  .  . 

I  have  been  reading  lately  a  very  eloquent  and  injurious  book— "Par 
ker's  Discourses,"— and  shocking  as  the  man's  infidelity  ought  to  be  to  me, 
upon  my  word,  it  did  not  stir  me  as  much  as  the  Yankee  effrontery  of  the 
cool  taking-for-grantedness  of  some  of  his  positions.  He  mistakes  assump 
tion  for  courage  and  positiveness  for  vigor.  But  the  book  is  a  great  one 
in  its  way,  so  far  as  ability  and  earnestness  are  concerned. 

"  Suaviter  in  modo,  fortiter  in  re,"  is  the  tone  maxim  in  writing  as  well 
as  in  life.  In  passages  of  mere  eloquence,  wherein  one  is  supposed  to  carry 
the  reader  or  listener  on  with  him  in  his  impassioned  excitement,  positive- 
ness  or  "  oracularity  "  is  of  course  in  place,  for  the  man  speaks  as  a  prophet, 
as  one  having  authority ;  but  in  didactic  or  character  writing  the  case  is 
different,  and  if  he  uses  his  ipse  dixit  too  often  or  too  strongly,  people  always 
d5,  always  have,  and  always  will  revolt  at  it.  You  say  in  a  public  room 
"  GeneralJackson  was  the  greatest  man  that  ever  Jived"— "The  H— 11  he 
was,"  answers  a  voice  from  the  crowd ;  another  man.  wh5  is  of  the  same 
faith  in  the  matter  with  yourself,  observes  aloud,  "  How  old  Jackson's  fame 
seems  to  grow  I  upon  my  word  we  don't  know  but  that  he  may  figure  in 


190  PERSUASIVNESS  VS.  ORACULARITY. 

history  a  thousand  years  hence  with  Julius  Caesar  or  the  best  of  'em.  I  have 
always  been  an  out  and  out  Jackson  man  and  therefore  my  opinion  may  not 
go  for  much,  but  I  do  really  believe  that  his  reputation  will  go  on  growing 
until  its  greatness  is  acknowledged  the  world  over,  and  stamped  by  the 
historian  for  all  time.  Yes,  a  reputation  perhaps  not  inferior  to  that  of  any 
man  who  ever  lived." 

But  this  sentence,  you  say,  has  no  "  vigor"  in  it  compared  with  the  first 
brief  assertion.  The  vigor,  my  friend,  is  in  the  result— fifty  men  would 
entertain  your  suggestion,  would  give  a  lodgment  to  your  idea,  when  thus 
presented,  while  in  the  other  case  not  one  would  think  of  discussing,  much 
less  of  receiving  your  proposition — they  would  think  only  of  the  manner  of 
the  man  that  made  it— not  of  the  man  to  which  it  referred. 

Have  I  bored  you  to  death?  Well,  I  am  most  anxious  to  get  this  thing 
into  your  mind,  for  I  think  your  writings  too  important  to  have  their 
efficiency  marred  by  a  blemish  which  must  limit  their  influence  unless  you 
will  permit  yourself  to  be  brought  to  see  the  defect  and  to  use  care  in  avoid 
ing  it. 

And  now  one  word  as  to  my  proofs.  The  book  you  know  was  to  be 
ready  to  send  copies  to  my  nephew  in  England  by  the  first  of  August.  He 
returns  in  the  Autumn. 

C.  F.  H[offman]. 


Vineyard,  Millwood,  Clarke  Co.,  Va.,  Oct.  15th,  1845. 
Dear  Sir : 

...  I  was  born  Oct.  26th,  1816  in  the  town  of  Martinsburg, 
Berkeley  Co.,  Virginia.  My  father,  John  R.  Cooke,  of  Richmond,  Va.,  is 
and  has  long  been  a  man  of  honorable  distinction  in  the  bar  of  the  state. 
My  mother,  Maria  Pendleton,  whom  he  married  in  Martinsburg,  is  sister  to 
Mr.  J.  P.  Kennedy's  mother.  I  spent  several  years  at  Princeton  College, 
N.  J.,  and  I  believe  graduated,  although  I  was  not  finally  examined  with  my 
class,  and  never  distinguished  myself  or  took  an  honor.  Whilst  at  Princeton 
I  contributed  several  pieces  of  verse  to  the  Knickerbocker,  then,  I  think, 
conducted  by  Mr.  Hoffman.  On  my  return  to  Virginia,  to  Winchester, 
where  my  father  then  resided,  I  began  (then  18)  to  write  prose  and  verse 
for  the  Messenger,  then  just  started.  Before  21  I  was  a  lawyer  and 
married ;  my  wife  was  Willianne  Burwell ;  I  am  happy  by  my  fireside  at  this 
place  on  the  banks  of  the  Shenandoah,  in  view,  and  within  a  mile,  of  the 
Blue  Ridge.  I  go  to  county  towns,  at  the  sessions  of  courts,  and  hunt  and 


PHILIP  PENDLETON  COOKE.  191 

fish,  and  make  myself  as  happy  with  my  companions  as  I  can.  I  have  lately 
spurred  myself  again  into  continuous  composition  and  mean  to  finish  books. 
I  have  always  projected  several.  And  this  is  the  "  sum  and  story  "of  this 
"human  life"  of  mine.  If  you  can  make  anything  out  of  such  material,  I 
shall  wonder  at  your  skill.  I  thank  you  seriously  for  the  favorable  estimate 
you  seem  to  have  put  upon  my  random  and  not  much  studied  poetry.  Be 
lieve  me,  very  truly  yours, 

P.  P.  Cooke. 


As*  Cooke's  letters  hav  few  allusions  to  the  events  of   the 
day,  it  seems  best  t&  print  them  tdgether : — 

Nov.  8,1846. 
My  dear  Sir, 

You  were  so  kind  as  to  offer  me  assistance  with  the  publishers 
in  the  publication  of  my  poems.  I  have  at  last  got  them  ready  for  the 
printer,  and  will  probably  place  the  MSS.  with  Mr.  J.  P.  Kennedy  in  a  few 
days — as  soon  as  I  hear  from  him. 

Will  you  be  kind  enough  to  give  me  your  advice,  and  whatever  other 
aid,  with  the  publishers,  your  convenience  may  permit?  I  am  quite  as 
ignorant  as  any  country  gentleman  ever  was  of  the  business  part  of  litera 
ture,  and  no  doubt  if  my  ballads  are  not  to  be  printed  until  I  (  personally  ) 
induce  a  publisher  to  print  them,  they  will  be  converted  into  gun  wads 
first. .  .  Believe  me,  my  dear  Sir,  Your  obliged  and  faithful  servant, 

P.  P.  Cooke. 

P.  S. — Mr.  Poe  holds  himself  ready  to  review  my  book — saying  all  that 
fairness  will  let  him  say  in  favor  of  it.  And  [B.  B.]  Miner  will  give  my 
friends  the  freedom  of  the  S.  L.  Messenger  for  the  same  purpose.  Judge 
B[everley]  Tucker  of  Williamsburg  or  J.  B.  Heath  of  Richmond  will 
doubtless  stand  godfather  to  me  here  and  in  the  south.  So  that  if  there  is 
any  spark  in  my  poems  it  will  not  be  left  to  die  out  for  want  of  blowing- 
puffing  perhaps  would  be  the  better  word. 


November  26, 1846. 
My  dear  Sir: 

I  have  just  received  your  letter,  and  find  the  difficulty  I  antici 
pated  realized — the  difficulty  of  getting  a  publisher  for  my  poetry. 

I  sent  the  MSS.  of  the  Ballads,  etc.,  to  Mr.  Kennedy  two  days  ago; 
they  are  doubtless  by  this  time  in  hands.    I  leave  you  to  do  with  them 


192  PHILIP  PENDLETON  COOKE. 

entirely  as  you  see  fit — to  publish  them  for  me  in  Graham,  if  you  can  induce 
him  to  take  them  or  to  put  them  aside  for  any  chance  of  the  future.  I  leave 
you  to  make  whatever  arrangement  with  Graham  ( as  to  prices  etc. )  you 
choose  or  can.  See  how  much  trouble  your  kind  proffer  of  aid  in  these 
matters,  has  entailed  upon  you ! 

The  serious  drawback  to  the  publication  of  the  poems  in  Graham  is 
the  fact  that  the  best  of  them  contains  about  1500  lines— rather  a  long  '  Bal 
lad.'  There  are  five  Ballads  in  all.  Three  of  the  others  are  about  as  long  as 
the  Proem— the  remaining  one  quite  short.  Doubtless  you  have  formed 
some  idea  that  they  were  like  Lockhart's  Spanish  Ballads,  in  length.  If 
they  were  they  would  suit  better  for  magazine  publication. 

I  will  not  forestall  your  critical  judgment  by  saying  that  I  consider  my 
Ballads  bad— but,  rest  assured,  I  will  d5  better  things  hereafter.  When  Mr. 
K.  writes  to  me,  I  will  answer  his  letter  putting  all  matters  touching  the 
poetry  under  your  joint  control.  If  opportunity  occurs  in  the  meantime, 
please  get  the  MS.  from  him. 

Accept,  my  dear  Sir,  assurances  of  my  gratitude,  and  disposition  to 
requite  the  kindness  I  have  received  at  your  hands.  Very  cordially  yours, 

P.  P.  Cooke. 

P.  S. — You  will  scarcely  perceive  how  my  poems  should  be  called 
''Ballads."  You  are  somewhat  responsible  for  the  name.  I  designed  to 
make  them  ( originally )  short  poems  of  the  old  understood  ballad  cast.  I 
sent  you  the  Proem  which  you  published  as  a  preface  to  the  "  Froissart 
Ballads."  Words  in  print  have  a  look  of  perpetuity  ( or  rather  of  fixedness ) 
about  them;  and  what  I  would  have  changed,  if  only  my  pen  and  portfolio 
had  been  concerned,  your  type  deterred  me  from  changing.  The  term 
"  Froissart  Ballads,"  however,  is  after  all  correct  even  with  the  poems  as 
they  are.  The  Master  of  Bolton  is  as  much  a  "  song"  as  the  lay  of  the  last 
minstrel,  altho'  I  have  no  prologue,  interludes  etc.,  to  show  how,  etc.,  it  was 
sung.  And  as  for  Orthone,  etc.,  Sir  John  Froissart  may  as  easily  be  imagined 
chaunting  them  as  talking  them. 

P.  P.  C. 


December  3, 1846. 
Dear  Sir : 

...  Be  so  good  as  to  write  to  me,  here  in  regard  to  the  fate  of 
my  pieces — how  you  have  selected  amongst  them — when  your  Book  will  be 
out,  etc.  etc.  I  perceive  that  'Rosalie  Lee'  and  'The  Proem'  have  been 


PHILIP  PENDLETON  COOKE.  193 

published  in  Graham's  Magazine.  .  .  Believe  me,  my  dear  Sir,  Your  obedi 
ent  servant, 

P.  P.  Cooke. 


January  20, 1847. 
My  dear  Sir: 

I  received  a  letter  from  Mr.  Kennedy  some  time  since  informing 
me  that  your  kind  offices  had  secured  the  publication  of  my  poems  by  Carey 
and  Hart,  and  that  you  would  write  to  me  on  the  subject.  Will  you  be  kind 
enough  to  do  so?  You  have  already  manifested  so  great  a  willingness  to 
serve  me  that  I  am  reluctant  even  to  ask  the  trouble  of  a  letter  from  you. 

The  Froissart  Ballads  sent  you  are  certainly  not  in  the  high  key  of  a 
man  warm  with  his  subject,  and  doing  the  thing  finely ;  I  wrote  them  with 
the  reluctance  of  a  turkey-hunter  kept  from  his  sport— only  Mr.  Kennedy's 
urgent  entreaty  and  remonstrance  whipped  me  up  to  the  labor.  This  year, 
however,  I  will  fan  the  fires,  and  make  a  rush  for  fame. 

Will  you  have  the  kindness  to  put  as  a  note  to  the  mention  of  Actaeon 
in  the  ballad  '  Sir  Peter  of  B6arn '  the  following,  or  something  like  it : 

*  Shakspere,  and  the  old  writers  generally,  Lord  Berners  amongst  the 
rest,  spell  Actaeon  as  I  have  done  above ;  the  delay  on  the  dipthong  in  pro 
nunciation,  is  discordant  in  verse  of  rapid  measure,  and  for  that  reason  I 
have  retained  the  ancient  English  spelling.' 

This  note  you  may  not  deem  necessary,  but  I  dread  an  inelegance- 
add  it  or  not  as  you  think  best. 

If  Mr.  Graham  publishes  any  of  the  poetry  do  not  be  too  exacting  as 
to  price.  Tell  him  to  send  me  his  magazine — if  he  publishes  them.  Believe 
me,  my  dear  Mr.  Griswold,  highly  complimented  by  your  approbation  of  my 
verses,  and  sincerely  desirous  to  serve  you  in  any  way  in  my  power.  Yours 
sincerely, 

P.  P.  Cooke. 


February  1, 1847. 
My  dear  Sir: 

...  I  gave  you  full  power  to  contract  with  the  publishers,  and 
would  not  have  hesitated,  an  instant,  to  sanction  your  giving  them  the  work. 
Of  course  therefore,  the  offer  of  ten  per  cent,  by  Carey  and  Hart  is  accepted. 
Indeed  I  am  somewhat  mortified  that  my  limited  means  and  family  obliga 
tions  make  it  impossible  to  issue  the  book  at  my  own  charge. 


194  PHILIP  PENDLETON  COOKE. 

I  am  not  surprised  at  what  you  say  concerning  Graham  and  Godey. 
Whatever  may  be  my  literary  rank  hereafter,  I  am  yet  in  obscurity,  and 
magazine  articles  derive  nine-tenths  of  their  pecuniary  value  to  publishers 
from  the  known  and  famous  names  attached  to  them.    Longfellow's  worst  *^ 
poem,  however  [much?]  a  chance  effort  of  mine  might  excel  it,  would  be    * 
vastly  more  valuable  to  Graham  than  anything  I  could  send  him.    Before 
hearing  of  the  prize-poem  mode  of  getting  supplies,  these  were  my  views  on 
the  subject,  and  I  expected  very  little  from  the  magazines — pecuniarily.  .  . 

Believe  me,  my  dear  sir,  ever  grateful  for  your  kindness,  and  earnestly 
desirous  to  serve  you  in  turn.    You  have  earned  a  right  to  command  me. 
Your  obliged  and  obedient  servant, 

P.  P.  Cooke. 


19  February,  1847. 
My  dear  Sir : 

I  received  your  kind  and  exceedingly  satisfactory  letter  yester 
day  evening.  I  cannot  too  much  thank  you  for  the  remarkable  courtesy  you 
have  shown  me,  in  this  whole  matter  of  publication. 

In  regard  to  the  ten  copies  of  the  poems  please  retain  a  copy  for  your 
self.  As  t5  the  rest  I  wish  one  of  them  presented  to  H.  "William  Herbert 
Esq.  (Frank  Forester)  if  it  can  be  got  to  him  (  with  my  compliments). — (I 
have  a  sportsman's  leaning  toward  this  gentleman — altho  I  think  he  writes 
in  the  white  kid  glove  style  and  has  a  taint  of  cockneyism.)  The  other  eight 
copies  Messrs.  Carey  and  Hart  will  please  send  to  Messrs.  Bell  and  Entwistle, 
Alexandria,  who  will  pay  their  carriage.  B.  and  E.  are  in  the  habit  of  send 
ing  me  books  by  our  road  wagons — rather  different  from  Harnden's  ex 
press  !  but  very  sure. 

You  are  probably  right  in  your  preference  for  the  Proem.  It  was 
written  with  excessive  care.  The  Master  of  Bolton  was  written  not  so 
lingeringly  but  still  quite  slowly.  Orthone— et  id  omne  genus — were  dashed 
off  with  as  much  rapidity  as  I  write  this — altho',  of  course,  slowly  revised 
and  pruned  afterward.  The  story  of  Ugolino  I  think  the  best  thing  in  the 
book. 

My  literary  life  opens  now,  If  the  world  manifests  any  disposition  t5 
hear  my  "utterances"  it  will  be  abundantly  gratified.  I  am  thirty;  until 
forty,  letters  shall  be  my  mind's  calling — avoiding  however  to  rely  on  them 
pecuniarily — then  (  after  forty  )  politics  will  be  a  sequitur. 


PHILIP  PENDLETON  COOKE.  195 

Always  command  me,  my  dear  Mr.  Griswold,  as  one  who  owes  you 
service  and  friendly  regard.  Very  sincerely  yours,  etc., 

P.  P.  Cooke. 

P.  S. — You  may  know  how  tardy  the  current  of  the  world's  business 
is  in  this  country  neighborhood  by  perceiving  from  my  dates  that  your  letter 
was  nine  days  in  reaching  me. 


Richmond,  June  6, 1851. 
Dear  Sir : 

I  find  that  any  delay  in  writing  what  I  promised  you— some 
particulars  of  my  brother's  life— would  answer  no  purpose,  inasmuch  as  what 
I  know,  I  can  communicate  as  well  now  as  at  any  other  time,  and  I  have  no 
means  of  gathering  more  information  on  the  subject.  The  article  in  the 
'  Illustrated  Courier '  which  I  send  as  a  probable  convenience  to  you,  will 
furnish  the  outline. 

I  know  scarcely  anything  more  than  that  he  was  born  on  the  26th  of 
Oct.  1816,  that  he  went  to  Princeton  at  fifteen  and  after  graduation  studied, 
and  commenced  the  practice  of  law  in  the  counties  of  Frederick,  Jefferson 
and  Berkeley.  As  to  his  graduation  you  will  find  in  the  Literary  Messenger 
of  March  1850  a  copy  of  Resolutions  of  the  '  American  Whig  Society '  of 
Princeton,  of  which  he  is  stated  therein  to  have  been  a  '  graduate  member.' 

I  scarcely  know  how  to  commence  the  few  words  I  have  to  say  on  my 
brother's  writings,  and  must  beg  you  to  pardon  the  rude  manner  in  which 
they  will  be  thrown  together — my  recollections,  I  mean.  Of  course  my  in 
formation—if  I  give  any — would  not  do  to  quote — for  which  it  will  be  totally 
unfit, — but  I  hope  to  present  the  matter  in  such  a  way  that  you  can  embody 
it.  My  brother's  mind,  altho'  it  bloomed  early,  was  essentially  a  late- 
maturing  intellect.  Many  of  his  most  pleasing  poems  were  certainly  written 
at  College  and  soon  after  his  return — that  is  between  his  fifteenth  and  eight- 
teenth  year;  namely  '  Dim  Nowas,'  '  The  Song  of  the  Sioux  Lovers,'  '  The 
Consumptive,'  ' Count  Herman '  and  the  'Moss-troopers'  ballads— these  all 
appearing  in  the  Knickerbocker  and  the  Winchester  papers,  where  also  were 
published  'Golnon,'  *  Isabel,'  'Kemp,'  'The  Glider,'  etc.— 'A  Song  of  the 
Seasons,' '  The  Last  Indian,' '  The  Creation  of  the  Antelope,' ' Young  Rosalie 
Lee,'  'The  Huma,' etc.,  appeared  in  the  first  and  second  volumes  of  the 
Messenger.  He  had  written  many  prose  pieces  also,  among  which  three 
elaborate  chapters  on  '  English  poetry '  presenting  a  resum6  of  the  elder 
poets  and  their  writings.  This  also  appeared  in  the  Messenger  and  was 


196  PHILIP  PENDLETON  COOKE. 

highly  spoken  of  by  an  able  critic,  Judge  Tucker,  in  his  late  critique  on  the 
'  Froissart  Ballads.'  It  was  written  at  eighteen. 

My  brother's  tastes  ran  most  towards  the  old  poets  and  prose  writers ; 
— The  '  dearest  books' as  Sir  Walter  Scott  says,  in  his  library  were  a  fine 
English  edition  of  Chaucer  in  fourteen  volumes,  and  Lord  Berners'  Frois 
sart,  also  English,  in  four  large  volumes.  Keats,  Shelley  and  Coleridge  were 
also  favorites  with  him ;  not  Southey  or  Byron.  When  the  Ballads  were 
published  he  had  not  seen  Tennyson,  but  his  poems  afterward  were  favorites 
with  him — more  especially  '  Morte  D' Arthur'  and  '  Ulysses.' 

Of  his  own  writings  he  liked  '  Florence  Vane,' '  Autumn  Woods,' '  The 
Mountains,'  and  '  To  Lily'  most.  The  ballads,  he  told  me,  were  written  very 
rapidly,  but,  he  always  said,  were  true  to  Froissart.  The  lines  'Young 
Rosalie  Lee'  were  scribbled  on  the  back  of  one  elaborate  poem,  the  '  Last 
Indian'  sent  t5  Mr.  [ T :  W. ]  White  in  1834-5. 

He  early  commenced  his  historical  novel,  to  be  called  <Liitzen,'in 
which  that  great  battle  wound  up  the  adventures  of  young  '  Maurice,'  the 
hero.  It  was  thrown  aside  however  for  years,  and  his  love  for  that  age  and 
its  men  appeared  only  in  '  Merlin.'  The  plan  of  Merlin  he  said  was  to  carry 
his  hero  '  from  a  Norse  hill  to  Bender  and  back  to  Gothland.' 

If  you  have  examined  the  Virginia  tales  which  we  looked  over  at  Mr. 
F.'s  you  will  have  seen,  my  dear  sir,  that  the  same  mind  which  produced  the 
prose  poem  of  Merlin  also  delineated,  with  a  total  abnegation  of  poetry,  the 
homeliest  Virginia  scenes  and  characters.  'John  Carper'  and  *  The  Two 
Country  Houses '  show  this  more  especially.  These  tales  were  the  com 
mencement  of  a  series  which  were  to  dramatize  the  whole  life  and  manners, 
history  and  all,  of  Virginia  and  her  people.  The  chivalric  poetry  had  filled 
my  brother's  mind  early  and  long,  and  he  was  only  banishing  it  at  thirty- 
three.  His  intellect — a  late-maturing  one,  as  I  said — had  only  commenced 
training  itself,  and  his  untimely  death  destroyed  the  hope  of  that  fruit  which 
his  early  poems  preceded  like  the  blossom.  I  consider  his  success,  you  will 
pardon  my  saying,  wonderful,  considering  the  profound  poetry  of  his  organ 
ization.  Poets  hardly  ever  make  tale-writers. 

You  will  find  in  the  Messenger  for  June  1850  a  very  interesting  '  Letter 
about  Florence  Vane' — a  gentleman  named  Hunt,  living  on  the  Ohio  having 
named  his  daughter  '  Florence  Vane '.  He  wrote  asking  for  an  autograph  of 
the  song  and  he  quotes  in  his  communication  a  part  of  brother's  reply.  I 
think  it  would  form  a  most  graceful  and  appropriate  part  of  your  article. 

Literature  with  my  brother  was  a  recreation — and  he  would  never 


PHILIP  PENDLETON  COOKE.  197 

write  unless  he  felt  the  desire  and  could  take  pleasure  in  embodying  his 
thoughts ;— he  manifested  great  carelessness  as  to  his  literary  reputation ;  of 
numberless  critiques  of  the  Froissart  Ballads,  he  did  not,  for  instance,  pre 
serve  one.  I  refer  you  to  the  editorial  notice  of  his  death  in  the  Messenger 
for  Feb.  1850,  for  a  quotation  on  this  subject  from  one  of  his  letters.  He 
was  at  his  death  writing,  or  about  to  write,  '  The  Women  of  Shakspere,' 
4  The  Chariot  Race,'  and  a  political  and  literary  satire. 

A  few  words  more  and  I  have  done.  My  brother's  character  may  be 
best  gathered  from  his  own  writings.  In  the  lines  to  '  My  Daughter  Lily ' 
you  may  discover  his  warm  and  affectionate  heart,  in  his  ballads  the  fiery 
and  chivalrous  phase  of  his  intellect,  in  '  Ugolino '  his  pathos,  and  in  all  his 
writings  his  thoroughly  wholesome  and  healthy  character  of  mind.  As  a 
boy  and  young  man  he  was  full  of  the  poetic  character— apart,  original,  and 
always  looked  up  to  by  his  associates.  As  he  grew  older  and  married,  his 
character  became  more  practical,  and  long  before  his  death,  I  can  thankfully 
say,  no  man  was  ever  more  just  and  practical  in  his  views— that  hiatus  so 
often  seen  in  the  mind  of  genius.  His  feeling  toward  his  family— including 
my  father,  mother,  brothers  and  sisters— amounted  to  a  blind  devotion,  and 
nowhere  is  his  pure  and  noble  character  more  evident  than  in  his  letters  to 
my  father. 

A  short  time  before  his  last  illness  he  introduced  into  his  family  of  his 
own  accord  morning  and  evening  prayer.  He  died  as  he  had  lived,  a  lofty 
and  pure-hearted  gentleman  and  a  humble  Christian.  God,  I  feel,  has  taken 
him  into  his  holy  keeping. 

I  know  nothing  more  to  add.  Of  the  personal  traits  which  distin 
guished  him  I  can  hardly  trust  myself  to  speak.  His  carriage  was  graceful 
and  upright;  his  frame  vigorous  and  active,  trained  as  he  was  by  constant 
hunting  in  the  Blue  Ridge.  His  hair  was  black  and  curling,  his  eye  dark, 
clear  and  bright,  his  expression  calm  and  thoughtful,  his  manner  impressed 
with  a  dignity  which  at  times  almost  amounted  t5  stateliness.  But  I  do  not 
know  how  to  continue  this  cold  catalogue, — when  he  rises  to  me  again  as  he 
was — the  love  and  admiration  of  my  life.  You  may  find  some  who  knew 
him  well — the  Kennedys  and  others — and  they  will  tell  you  what  I  cannot, 

I  hope  you  will  find  s5mething  in  this  long  letter  to  use,  tho'  I  scarcely 
expect  it.  My  recollections,  I  find,  cannot  be  put  on  paper,  even  if  they 
were  of  use.  I  am  afraid  they  will  be  of  none.  With  the  request  that  I 
may  hear  from  you  at  your  earliest  convenience,  I  remain,  my  dear  sir,  with 

great  respect,  Most  truly  yours, 

Jno.  Esten  Cooke. 


198  J:  PIERPONT. 

In  October  1845,  the  literary  world  was  amused  by  a  clever 
article  in  T :  Dunn  English's  magazine  "  The  Aristidean,"  a 
part  of  which  I  reprint,  as  it  indicates,  more  or  less  accurately, 
the  prevailing  opinion  of  the  authors  mentiond. 

Anxious  t5  present  our  readers  with  the  best  specimens  of  the  poetry 
of  this  country,  we  addressed  notes  to  various  of  our  poets,  requesting  them 
to  furnish  us,  without  charge,  the  means  of  fulfilling  our  desire.  This,  we 
conceived,  to  be  a  very  modest  request.  To  our  surprise,  some  of  these 
notes  were  returned,  and  others  were  retained,  but  no  reply  made.  To 
some  we  received  answers,  with  the  required  poems.  We  print,  below,  the 
whole  of  the  latter.  Our  readers  will  enjoy  these  sublime  effusions  :— 

Boston,  Sept.  3rd,  1845. 
Dear  Sir : 

I  am  happy  to  oblige  you.  I  send  you  the  enclosed,  written  in 
my  usual  terse,  epigrammatic  style.  The  high  opinion  you  express  of  my 
powers  as  a  poet  are  [sic]  but  just;  and  show  you  have  more  taste  than  the 
Hollis  street  congregation.  I  am,  very  truly, 

John  Pierpont. 

ODE  TO  THE  MUSES 
BY  THE  REV.  JOHN  PIERPONT. 

*  Ye  gentle  muses !  make  me  first 

Of  bards— like  Harry  Hirat! 
To  me  the  tire  afford, 
.    Of  William  W.  Lord ! 
And  be  my  songs  like  Coxe's  "Saul," 
Filled  up  with  most  abundant  fol 
—lol, 
fol 

de  riddle  dol ! 
« 

Ye  gentle  muses !  let  my  rhymes 

Ring  like  the  chinking  chimes 

Of  those  Campanalo- 

— gian  ringers,  whom  you  know, 
Within  the  Tabernacle  Hall. 


c:  J.  PETERSON.  199 

Present  abundantly  the  fol 
—lol, 
fol 
de  riddle  dol  I 

Ye  gentle  muses !  if  you  will, 
With  fire  my  verses  fill ; 
Permit  this  lamp  of  mine 
O'er  other  lamps  to  shine ; 
And,  if  you  won't,  confound  ye  all ! 
I'll  treat  you  to  abundant  fol 
—lol, 
fol 
de  riddle  dol ! 

Philadelphia,  Sept.  25th,  1845. 
My  very  dear  Sir : 

I  am  pleased  to  see  that  you  are  inclined  to  do  me  justice ;  al 
though  the  Rev.  Dr.  Griswold,  and  be (a)  to  him,  never  gave  my  works 

a  place  in  his  collection  of  American  poetry.  I  send  you  a  sonnet,  of  a  de 
cidedly  original  construction— as  original  as  any  thing  I  ever  wrote.  It  is 
heartily  at  your  service.  Could  you  not  contrive  to  say  something  about  my 
•'  great  talents,"  etc.?  I  will  do  as  much  for  you.  Very  truly,  yours, 

Charles  J.  Peterson. 

SONNET 
BY   CHARLES  J.   PETERSON,  ESQ. 

Author  of"  Cruizings  in  the  Late  War,"  &c. 
Remote,  unfriended,  melancholy,  slow— 
Upon  her  breast  a  sparkling  cross  she  wore, 
Which  Jews  might  kiss  and  infidels  adore — 
She  roamed  where  crept  the  brooklet  still  and  slow. 
That  too  relentless,  too  obdurate  fair — 
Who  saw  was  lost.    Ah !  would  he  ne'er  had  seen! — 
Full  many  a  gem  of  purest  ray  serene 
The  dark,  unfathomed  caves  of  ocean  bear — 
And  she  was  one  whose  brightness  shamed  the  sun, 

Whose  eye  the  sky  at  noon — whose  Voice  so  bland — 
(a)  We  have  concluded  not  to  print  the  word  which  was  written  at 
this  place;  but  have  piously  supplied  its  place  with  a  dash. — Ed.  of  Aristidean. 


200  POE,— ARTHUR  C.   COXE. 

'Twas  "  Yankee  Doodle,"  played  by  Scudder's  band— 
And  well  that  voice  an  angel  might  have  won — 
Why  did  she  love  him?    Curious  fool !  be  still ; 
Is  human  love  the  growth  of  human  will  ? 

New  York  City,  Sept.  28th,  1845. 
My  dear  Sir: 

For  old  acquaintance' sake,  I  comply  with  your  request;  but  your 
attempt  will  be  a  failure.  Eeasoning  a  priori,  I  could  demonstrate  that  it 
cannot  succeed.  But  I  will  not  waste  my  logic  on  an  obstinate  man.  Your 
obedient  servant, 

Edgar  A.  Poe. 

THE  MAMMOTH  SQUASH. 
BY  EDGAR  A.  POK. 

Green  and  specked  with  spots  of  golden, 

Never  since  the  ages  olden — 

Since  the  time  of  Cain  and  Abel, 

Never  such  a  vegetable, 

So  with  odors  sweetest  laden 

Thus  our  halls  appearance  made  in. 

Who— oh !  who  in  kindness  sent  thee 

To  afford  my  soul  nepenthe? 

u 

Rude  men  seeing  thee,  say—"  Gosh! 

'Tis  a  most  enormous  squash ! " 

But  the  one  who  peers  within, 

Knowledge  of  himself  to  win, 
Says,  while  total  silence  reigns, 

Silence,  from  the  Stygian  shore — 

(Grim  silence,  darkling  o'er) 

"  This  may  perchance  be  but  the  skull 

Of  Arthur  Cleveland  Coxe  so  dull- 
Its  streaked,  yellow  flesh— his  brains." 

New  York  City,  Sept.  18th,  1845. 
My  dear  boy : 

With  the  greatest  of  pleasure.  I  am  always  happy  to  serve  my 
friends.  God  bless  you.  Cordially,  yours, 

Geo.  P.  Morris. 


G:  POPE  MORRIS,— WHITTIER.  201 

LINES  FOR  MUSIC. 
BY  GEORGE   P.   MORRIS. 

Where  Nassau  street  right-angles  Ann, 

And  newsboys'  voices  clear 
Shout  out—"  The  Evening  Mirror,  sir?" 

Where  apple  stands  are  near — 
Next  door  to  where  a  shop  is  kept 

For  books  at  second-hand — 
I  sit,  and  think  upon  "  mi-boy," 

Far  in  a  foreign  land, 

M 

No  more  t5  my  good-humor  now, 

His  ready  tongue  replies— 
My  heart  with  bitter  grief  is  full, 

And  even  fuller  sighs. 
My  handsome  partner  strives  in  vain, 

My  general  grief  to  cheer; 
"  Mi-boy"  to  foreign  shores  has  gone, 

And  weeps  the  "  Brigadier." 

Worcester,  9th  Mo.  3rd,  1845. 
Esteemed  friend : 

Thy  favor  of  the  first  of  the  last  month  has  been  received  to-day. 
I  send  thee  a  trifle  of  mine ;  and  hope  the  proceeds  of  thy  proposed  publica 
tion  will  be  devoted  to  the  cause  of  the  poor  slave.  Touching  the  free 
negroes,  of  whose  sufferings  thou  writest,  they  must  wait  for  relief  until 
slavery  be  abolished.  They  should  willingly  defer  their  sensual  gratification 
for  the  benefit  of  their  brethren  in  bondage,  and  be  content  to  live  in  wretch 
edness,  and  die  of  starvation,  for  the  good  of  the  cause.  Thine  truly, 

Jno.  G.  Whittier. 

APPEAL  TO  THE  NORTH. 
BY    JOHN    G.    WHITTIER. 
A  sound  upon  old  Plymouth  rock; 

Tossing,  the  giant  reels ! 
Those  fearful  clanks  our  senses  shock — 

There's  fetters  on  the  negro's  heels. 
Those  heels  so  long  with  chains  are  marred ; 
Those  backs  so  broad  with  lashes  scarred ; 


202  C:  FENNO  HOFFMAN. 

And  human  fiends,  with  faces  grim, 
Dig  holes  in  every  negro's  limb, 
Then  fill  them  up  with  salt  for  him, 
And  fry  him,  all  alive,  in  lard. 

Awake  1  ye  cotton-spinners,  wake ! 

Cobblers  of  Lynn  arouse ! 
Your  shuttles  and  your  lapstones  take, 

And  knit  in  wrath  your  honest  brows. 
And  if  your  curses  nought  avail 
To  make  these  haughty  Southrons  quail ; 
If  tar  and  feathers  come  t5  daunt 
The  soul  within  your  forms  so  gaunt- 
Just  tell  them  that's  not  what  you  want ; 

And  run,  like  Hubbard,  home  again. 

We  have  presented  our  readers  with  such  a  collection  of  gems  as  were 
never  before  brought  together.  If  they,  and  the  correspondence,  be  not 
genuine — then  we  have  been  most  shamefully  imposed  upon ;  and  we  would 
like  to  catch  the  rascal  who  did  it. 

New  York,  Dec.  29,  '45. 
Dear  Griswold : 

.  .  .  My  poems  are  just  beginning  to  recover  a  little.  They  have 
so  many  errors  which  both  you  and  I  overlooked  that  I  hope  they  may  yet 
reach  another  edition  to  receive  my  final  corrections.  If  they  do,  I  shall 
restore  the  greater  portion  of  the  letter  addressed  to  yourself  in  "  Borrowed 
Notes"  [Phil'a,  1844]  with  its  original  date.  An  ordinary  dedication  to 
you,  after  the  amiable  things  you  have  said  of  them  in  print,  would  have 
been  in  the  worst  possible  taste,  and  I  did  not  wish  to  incorporate  in  a  per 
manent  volume  my  remarks  upon  the  Quarterly  intended  for  a  passing 
occasion.  I  consider  it  proper,  too,  t5  detach  your  name  entirely  from  the 
collection,  while  it  has  one  fair  trial  on  its  own  merits.  As  I  should  prob 
ably,  however,  never  have  thought  seriously  of  collecting  these  pieces  unless 
your  instrumentality  had  first  brought  them  together,  the  merit  of  the  publi 
cation  must  be  yours  if  it  ever  proves  worth  a  permanent  claim.  .  .  That 
review  of  Ingersoll  in  the  Courier — worthy  of  Macaulay,  as  I  hear  many  say, 
What  was  it?  Is  there  any  other  R.  W.  G.  but  yourself? 


MISS  FULLER,  LONGFELLOW,  R:  GRANT  WHITE.  203 

Did  you  see  Margaret  Fuller's  notice  of  Longfellow  in  the  Tribune?  an 
admirably  d5ne  thing  so  far  as  pointing  out  his  deficiencies,  but  wanting  in 
justice  to  his  merits.  An  additional  paragraph  pointing  out  wherein  lay  hia 
real  source  of  poetic  power,  clear  and  undeniable, — his  power  of  person 
ification—would  have  set  all  right. 

[R:G.]  White  says  he  will  set  this  forth  in  the  Gazette  of  today  or 
tomorrow.  He  had  yesterday  a  column  upon  Mrs.  Embury,  and  I  believe  is 
going  to  give  the  week  to  the  "  poets  of  the  season."  His  musical  criticisms 
have  made  a  great  stir  this  winter.  Ever,  my  Dear  Griswold,  truly  yours, 

C.  F.  Hoffman. 

Baltimore,  Jan.  6, 1846. 
My  dear  Sir : 

.  .  .  Who  wrote  Jeremy  Levis  and  the  Vision  of  Rubeta?  Who 
wrote  Old  England  by  a  New  England  Man?  .  .  . 

As  to  your  Prose  Authors— I  will  endeavor  to  comply  with  your  re 
quest  in  the  matter  of  a  portrait,  at  an  early  day.  .  . 

I  have  suggested  to  Cooke  that  it  might  serve  his  turn  to  publish  his 
poems  in  our  new  press  here  in  Baltimore.  You  are  aware  that  Park  Ben 
jamin  has  started  a  publishing  concern  here  which  is  intended  to  have  great 
occupation  with  the  South  and  West.  How  will  it  do  to  put  our  young  poet 
to  this  venture?  Yours  truly, 

J.  P.  Kennedy. 

Portland,  Feb.  23, 1846. 
Dear  Madam  f  Mrs.  Osgood  ]  : 

In  the  name  of  my  father,  John  Neal,  who  has  authorized  me  to 
do  so,  I  take  the  liberty  of  begging  a  favor  at  your  hands.  I  am  making  a 
collection  of  the  hair  of  our  distinguished  authors,  poets,  and  painters;  and 
am  unwilling  to  have  it  so  incomplete  as  it  would  be  without  yours.  May  I 
hope  to  possess  yours?  The  tress  will,  I  assure  you,  be  in  company  of  which 
it  would  have  no  reason  to  be  ashamed.  Your  sincere  admirer, 

Mary  Neal. 

Portland,  April  25th,  1846. 
Dear  sweet  Mrs.  Osgood : 

I  guess  I  do  want  a  lock  of  Mr.  Poe's  hair !  and  I  guess  I  am  an 
admirer  of  his  Raven ;  I  think  it  is— I  hardly  know  what  word  to  use— it  is 
strange,  grotesque  and  very  beautiful;— but  I  also  want  a  line  of  his  writing 


204  MISS  FULLER,  GREELEY,  WHJPPLE. 

with  a  lock  of  his  hair,  I  will  enclose  in  this  letter  a  note  for  him  and  then  I 
shall  be  sure  of  having  an  answer — don't  you  think  so? 

Although  your  letter  is  dated  February  27th  I  received  it  only  to-day, 
and  am  exceedingly  obliged  to  you  for  the  hair  as  well  as  for  your  kind  note ; 
and,  Mrs.  Osgood,  we  shall  all  be  "tickled  to  death"  to  have  that  book  of 
yours,  particularly  Your  sincere  admirer, 

Mary  Neal. 

New  York,  July  22, 1846. 
Friend  Griswold, 

I  bore  you  with  a  few  lines  only  because  Schofield  is  going  on 
tonight,  and  will  take  a  line  to  you. 

I  want  to  bother  you  with  a  word  about  Literary  personalities.  Miss 
Fuller's  book  will  be  out  soon,  I  understand ;  try  t5  see  it  before  you  write 
about  her.  See  what  she  has  said  of  Emerson  in  her  notice  of  his  Essays, 
second  series,  in  the  Tribune  of  December  or  January,  '44-5.  I  wish  she 
was  to  write  you  a  few  words  about  the  Unitarian  notables.  She  knows 
them  well,  and  says  what  she  knows  very  forcibly.  But  it  takes  her  a  good 
while  to  say  it,  and  she  leaves  for  Europe  on  Wednesday. 

I  doubt  your  finding  anything  of  mine  that  will  justify  your  putting 
me  in  your  book,  and  it  were  better  to  omit  me  than  seem  to  thrust  me  in  on 
personal  grounds.  Still,  look  over  and  be  sure  you  judge  impartially.  I 
think  you  have  not  seen  a  little  piece  which  I  hastily  wrote  one  evening  last 
year  for  a  Connecticut  Annual,  in  which  it  appears  entitled  'Humanity'. 
The  Annual  was  very  provincial,  very  dull,  and  rather  shabby,  and  I  guess 
did  not  get  far  from  the  publisher.  Please  look  for  it  in  some  hospital  for 
foundered  annuals,  and  glance  over  this  little  piece.  If  I  recollect  aright,  it 
was  a  more  condensed,  clear  and  satisfactory  statement  of  our  Reform 
notions  than  I  have  made  elsewhere,  and  would  be  worth  referring  to  here 
after. 

D5  write  me  and  let  me  know  how  you  get  on.    Yours, 

Horace  Greeley. 

Boston,  August  3rd,  1846. 
Dear  Griswold: 

I  have  just  received  your  favor  of  the  30th.  The  sight  of  your 
hand  again  is  cheering.  I  am  glad  to  see  you  write  in  such  good  spirits. 
Thank  you  for  your  congratulations  on  a  certain  event.  I  hope  you  will  be 


EDWIN  PERCY  WHIPPLE.  205 

in  Boston  before  you  leave  Phila.  for  the  south,  and  it  will  give  me  great 
pleasure  to  introduce  you  to  the  lady. 

I  am  quite  curious  to  see  your  book.  Do  send  me  the  proofs  as  you 
suggest.  I  sympathize  with  you  in  the  hard  reading  you  have  had  to  wade 
through  to  make  the  work  complete.  That's  a  good  joke  about  your  conver 
sation  with  "Black  Dan."  If  ever  I  make  a  figure  in  the  world,  it  will  be 
the  figure  0.  I  take  it  that  the  whole  affair  is  purely  the  creation  of  your 
teeming  fancy,  and  that  "  Black  Dan"  is  some  waiter  at  the  Hotel.  O  you 
wicked  rogue — dost  ever  read  the  interesting  tradition  of  Ananias  and 
Sapphira?  I  have  too  small  a  swallow  to  my  self-esteem  to  take  down  that 
story.  "  t  prithee  d5  not  mock  me,  fellow  student." 

With  regard  to  giving  me  a  ticket  of  admittance  to  your  gallery  of 
prose  writers,  I  shall  be  very  happy  to  appear  in  such  company,  provided  I 
am  not  cut  dead  by  the  rest.  My  biography  is  very  short,  not  much  taller 
than  my  person.  I  was  born  at  Gloucester,  Mass.,  March  8,1819.  I  don't 
know  when  I  shall  die,  but  as  I  am  at  the  end  of  your  list,  I  trust  I  shall 
survive  all  that  go  before  me.  Of  the  first  three  years  of  my  life  I  preserve 
but  an  indistinct  recollection, — a  recollection  which  I  do  not  desire  to  make 
distinct,  as  a  contemplation  of  the  infants  I  see  around  me  makes  me  asham 
ed  I  was  ever  a  baby.  Two  things,  connected  with  my  head,  may  be  inter 
esting  to  the  future  historian  of  American  letters.  At  the  age  of  thirteen 
months  I  had  a  brain  fever;  and  at  the  age  of  three,  my  schoolmistress 
( devil  take  her! )  nearly  cuffed  my  head  off  my  shoulders,  because  I  did  not 
discriminate  with  sufficient  exactness  between  the  letters  E  and  A.  Glou 
cester  is  my  native  town,  but  at  the  age  of  four,  I  was  withdrawn  from  that 
sphere  of  usefulness,  and  carried  to  Salem,  Mass.,  where  I  went  to  school 
until  I  was  fifteen.  As  soon  as  I  left  school  I  stepped  into  the  Bank  of 
General  Interest,  Salem,  as  a  clerk,  and  stayed  there  three  years.  In  the 
year  1837,  at  the  age  of  eighteen,  I  made  my  triumphant  entrance  into  Bos 
ton  in  an  humble  stage  which  ran  between  Salem  and  this  city.  Since  then, 
you  know,  I  have  been  in  mercantile  pursuits.  My  genius  broke  out  upon 
me,  like  a  fit  of  the  measles,  when  I  was  fourteen.  I  have  scribbled,  as  you 
know,— though  it  is  a  most  profound  secret  to  all  the  world,  ard  in  spite  of 
friendly  notices  will  probably  always  remain  so,— in  various  newspapers, 
magazines  and  reviews.  My  first  article  in  a  magazine  was  that  on  Macaulay, 
published  in  the  Boston  Miscellany,  Feb'y,  1843.  A  singular  circumstance 
deserves  to  be  noted  in  this  connection,  that  the  said  Miscellany  died  with 
the  number  for  that  month.  .  . 


206  GREBLEY  ON  THOREAIT. 

In  the  American  Whig  Keview,  I  wrote  an  article  in  the  number  for 
Feb'y,  1845,  entitled  Words ;  in  July,  on  Griswold's  British  Poets ;  in  June, 
1846,  on  Coleridge  as  a  Philosophical  Critic ;  in  July,  1846,  and  August,  1846, 
a  long  article,  continued  in  August,  on  Beaumont  and  Fletcher. 

I  have  written  also  for  Sargent's  Magazine,  for  the  Columbian,  for 
Graham,  and  one  article  in  the  Democratic  Eeview.  The  best  of  these  are 
two  articles  in  Graham;  one  on  Egotism  in  Great  and  Little  Men,  another, 
published  some  time  last  year,  on  the  Literature  of  the  Present  Day.  .  . 

I  do  not  care  what  you  say  of  my  articles,  if  you  don't  hit  me  over  the 
mazard  about  Macaulay.  Don't  say  that  I  imitate  him,  because  imitation  is 
the  worst  kind  of  worthlessness.  Say  that  my  essays  are  worthless  in  some 
other  form  of  contempt.  The  peculiarities  of  my  style,  if  it  have  any  pecu 
liarities,  are  peculiar  to  my  mind.  They  are  indicated  in  my  school  com 
positions  before  I  ever  heard  of  Bab.,  or  read  him.  Here  is  something  from 
a  composition  on  The  Miser,  written  when  I  was  a  green  boy  :  "  While  he 
lives,  he  lives  despised  and  hated ;  and  when  he  dies  he  is  remembered  only 
by  those  whom  he  has  cheated."  Besides  there  is  hardly  a  prose-writer  in 
English  literature  that  I  have  not  read,  and  though  I  have  a  large  admiration 
of  Macaulay's  powers  and  attainments,  I  should  not  think  of  taking  him  as  a 
model,  more  than  many  others.  You  must  discriminate  between  admiration 
of  an  author  and  slavish  adulation  of  him.  If  I  aimed  at  imitation  I  should 
take  John  Milton's  "  Reason  of  Church  Government  against  Prelaty  "  or  his 
speech  for  the  liberty  of  Speech,  rather  than  Macaulay's  articles.  I  think  it 
possible  to  be  a  mediocre  writer  without  being  a  copyist.  I  say  of  any  one 
of  my  articles,  as  Touchstone  says,  "  a  poor  thing,  sir,  but  my  own."  Now, 
therefore,  I  say  to  you,  with  this  one  imputation  excepted,  ram  down  your 
critical  cannons,  old  fellow,  and  fire  away!  As  I  am  at  the  latter  end  of 
your  work,  excuse  me  if  I  omit  saying,  the  "  devil  take  the  hindmost." 

Fields  has  not  yet  returned  from  his  tour  to  Niagara.  All  the  b'hoys 
are  well.  Come  on  and  see  us  one  of  these  fine  days.  We  will  treat  you 
well.  Good-by !  God  bless  you,  and  may  all  good  fortune  and  blessed 
spirits  be  your  portion.  Very  Sincerely, 

E.  P.  Whipple. 

T5  dear  Koof ! 


New  York,  Aug.  25, 1846. 
G.  R.  Graham,  Esq.,  Dear  Sir : 

I  send  you  herewith  an  account  of  the  Life,  Character,  Genius 
and  Works  of  Thomas  Carlyle,  by  one  of  the  only  two  men  in  America 


THOREAU'S  ADMIRERS.  207 

capable  of  giving  it.  The  very  best  man  to  do  this  is,  of  course,  Ralph 
Waldo  Emerson,  and  this  is  by  the  second-best,  Mr.  Emerson's  pupil,  friend 
and  daily  companion,  Henry  D.  Thoreau,  whose  essays  and  translations  of 
some  of  the  grand  Greek  Tragedies  in  The  Dial  made  a  deserved  sensation. 
Thoreau  is  a  young  man,  a  scholar,  poor  of  course,  and  sends  this  to  me  to 
get  utterance  and  bread.  I  know  it  is  unlike  the  general  staple  of  your 
Magazine,  but  I  think  it  will  on  that  account  be  relished  and  give  a  zest  to 
the  work.  That  it  is  a  brilliant  as  well  as  vigorous  essay,  and  gives  a 
Daguerreotype  of  Carlyle  and  Carlylism  which  no  man  living  but  Emerson 
could  excel,  I  believe  any  scholar  would  say,  and  I  am  confident  it  would 
attract  many  new  readers  to  the  Magazine.  It  would  make  about  a  sheet  or 
sixteen  pages  of  the  Mag.  and  would  probably  have  to  be  divided — I  hope 
but  once.  If  you  choose  to  publish  it,  and  pay  as  much  as  you  pay  others 
for  right  good  prose  ( where  you  are  not  buying  a  name )  I  will  make  it  sell 
a  pile  of  Magazines,  anyhow. 

I  offer  it  first  to  you,  and  ask  you  to  let  me  have  your  decision  upon  it 
as  soon  as  practicable.  Keep  the  MS.  till  I  send  for  it,  as  I  may  think  best  t5 
offer  it  to  Godey  if  you  don't  want  it.  Yours, 

Horace  Greeley. 

Had  Greeley  knon  that  Mr.  Julian  Hawthorne  was  t6  sit  in 
judgment  on  Thoreau — and  incidentally  on  himself — forty 
years  later,  he  would  doubtless  have  written  less  positivly  in 
his  friend's  praise  : — 

The  friends  of  Thoreau  have  distorted  him  by  interpreting  his  limita 
tions  and  defects  as  virtues  and  gifts,  and  magnifying  them  until  their  poor 
possessor  becomes  unintelligible.  Thoreau  was  neither  a  child  nor  a  man ;  he 
had  the  narrowness  but  not  the  ingenuousness  of  the  former,  and  the  vanity 
and  self-consciousness  of  the  latter,  without  the  redeeming  tolerance  and 
common-sense.  He  had  a  good,  though  ultra-bilious,  physical  organization ; 
his  nature  was  bitter,  selfish,  jealous  and  morbid.  His  human  affections 
were  scarcely  more  than  rudimentary;  his  intellect  was  sharp  and  analytical, 
but  small  in  scope  and  resource ;  he  shunned  society  because  he  lacked  the 
faculty  of  making  himself  decently  agreeable ;  and  yet  no  man  ever  hankered 
more  insatiably  after  social  notice  and  approbation.  No  prudent  well-wisher 
of  this  forlorn  and  pathetic  personage  would  have  permitted  the  greater  part 
of  the  contents  of  this  volume  ["Winter"]  t5  appear  in  print.  Almost 


208  THOREAU  AND  GREELEY. 

* 

every  page  is  defaced  with  his  vapid  and  morbid  sentimentality.  He  tries  to 
make  himself  believe  that  he  is  a  philosopher,  a  moralist,  a  grand,  misappre 
hended  soul ;  he  writes  interminably  in  the  Emersonian  dialect,  but  thereby 
only  renders  his  unlikeness  to  that  generous  and  joyful  sage  more  excruciat 
ing.  It  is  evident  that  he  seldom  succeeded  in  deceiving  even  himself  in 
regard  to  the  emptiness  of  his  pretentious.  Thoreau  was  the  most  dismal 
fraud  of  the  New  England  transcendental  group.  He  observed  natural 
phenomena  well,  and  described  them  with  laborious  minuteness;  but  he  has 
added  no  fact  of  importance  to  natural  science.  Of  the  books  that  he  pub 
lished  the  best  thing  that  can  be  said  is  that  they  are  better  than  the  journals 
published  after  his  death.  Such  being  the  man,  it  would  be  interesting  to 
ask  how  he  acquired  so  much  notoriety  and  mistaken  adulation.  He  and 
Margaret  Fuller  may  be  bracketed  together  in  this  connection  :  neither  of 
them  was  of  any  actual  use  or  value  in  the  world ;  and  yet  a  number  of  ami 
able  and  near-sighted  people,  upon  the  theory  that  whoever  is  exceptionally 
ugly,  self-conceited  and  disagreeable  must  possess  a  superior  nature,  have 
made  golden  calves  of  these  poor  mortals,  and  fallen  down  and  worshipped 
them  in  the  wilderness.  A  future  generation  will  correctly  appraise  the 
calves ;  but  the  worshippers  will  puzzle  them. 

The  further  history  of  Thoreau's  article  is  thus  narrated  by 
Mr.  F.  B.  Sanborn:— 

On  the  30th  of  September  Mr.  Greeley  again  wrote,  saying,— 
"I  learned  today,  through  Mr.  Griswold,  former  editor  of  '  Graham's  Maga 
zine,'  that  your  lecture  is  accepted,  to  appear  in  that  magazine.  Of  course  it 
is  to  be  paid  for  at  the  usual  rate,  as  I  expressly  so  stated  when  I  enclosed  it 
to  Graham.  .  .  The  pay,  however,  is  sure,  though  the  amount  may  not  be 
large.  .  . 

On  the  26th  of  October,  1846,  he  continued  the  adventures  of  the 
wandering  essay  as  follows  :— 

"My  Friend  Thoreau, — I  know  you  think  it  odd  that  you  have  not 
heard  further,  and  perhaps  blame  my  negligence  or  engrossing  cares,  but,  if 
so,  without  good  reason.  I  have  today  received  a  letter  from  Griswold,  in 
Philadelphia,  who  says :  '  The  article  by  Thoreau  on  Carlyle  is  in  type,  and 
will  be  paid  for  liberally.'  '  Liberally '  is  quoted  as  an  expression  of  Gra 
ham's.  .  . 

It  would  seem  that  "Griswold"  (who  was  Eufus  W.  Griswold,  the 
biographer  of  Poe)  and  "  Graham"  did  not  move  so  fast  either  in  publica- 


THOREAU  AND  GREELEY.  209 

tion  or  in  payment  as  they  had  led  Mr.  Greeley  to  expect ;  and  also  that 
Thoreau  became  impatient  and  wrote  to  his  friend  that  he  would  withdraw 
the  essay.  Whereupon  Mr.  Greeley,  under  date  of  February  5th,  1847, 
wrote  thus  :— 

"  My  dear  Thoreau, — Although  your  letter  only  came  to  hand  today,  I 
attended  to  its  subject  yesterday,  when  I  was  in  Philadelphia,  on  my  way 
home  from  "Washington.  Your  article  is  this  moment  in  type,  and  will 
appear  about  the  20th  inst.,  as  the  leading  article  in  * Graham's  Magazine ' 
for  next  month.  Now  don't  object  to  this,  nor  be  unreasonably  sensitive  at 
the  delay.  It  is  immensely  more  important  to  you  that  the  article  should 
appear  thus  ( that  is,  if  you  have  any  literary  aspirations )  than  it  is  that  you 
should  make  a  few  dollars  by  issuing  it  in  some  other  way.  .  .  But  its  appear 
ance  there  is  worth  far  more  to  you  than  money.  .  . 

The  Carlyle  essay  did  appear  in  two  numbers  of  "  Graham's  Maga 
zine"  (March  and  April,  1847),  but  alas,  no  payment  came  to  hand.  After 
waiting  a  year  longer,  Thoreau  wrote  to  Greeley  again  (March  31,1848), 
informing  him  of  the  delinquency  of  Griswold  and  Graham.  At  once,  his 
friend  replied  (April  3),  "It  saddens  and  surprises  me  to  know  that  your 
article  was  not  paid  for  by  Graham;  and  since  my  honor  is  involved  in  the 
matter,  I  will  see  that  you  are  paid,  and  that  at  no  distant  day."  Accord 
ingly  on  the  17th  of  May,  1848,  he  writes  again  as  follows : — 

...  I  finally  found  the  two  numbers  of  the  work  in  which  your  article 
was  published  ( not  easy,  I  assure  you,  for  he  has  them  not,  nor  his  brother, 
and  I  hunted  them  up,  and  bought  one  of  them  at  a  very  out-of-the-way 
place),  and  with  these  I  made  out  a  regular  bill  for  the  contribution;  drew 
a  draft  on  G.  R.  Graham  for  the  amount,  gave  it  to  his  brother  here  for 
collection,  and  today  received  the  money.  Now  you  see  how  to  get  pay 
yourself,  another  time ;  I  have  pioneered  the  way,  and  you  can  follow  it 
easily  yourself .  There  has  been  no  intentional  injustice  on  Graham's  part ; 
but  he  is  overwhelmed  with  business,  has  too  many  irons  in  the  fire,  and  we 
did  not  go  at  him  the  right  way.  Had  you  drawn  a  draft  on  him,  at  first, 
and  given  it  to  the  Concord  Bank  to  send  in  for  collection,  you  would  have 
received  your  money  long  since.  Enough  of  this.  I  have  made  Graham 
pay  you  $75.  .  .  " 

[  Undated.  ] 
My  dear  Griswold : 

I  have  just  returned  from  a  three  months  tour  in  the  woods 
where  I  have  been  to  regain  my  health.    This  long  absence  has  broken  up  all 


210  J.  T.  HEADLEY. 

my  New  York  arrangements  and  I  am  afloat.  I  should  like  to  spend  the 
winter  in  Philadelphia  and  now  do  you  know  of  any  way  I  could  clear  my 
expenses  there?  The  field  of  literature  I  take  it  is  pretty  well  known  by 
you  as  well  as  most  other  fields  and  if  you  could  wheel  me  into  any  of  your 
multifarious  plans  I  should  be  glad.  If  not  into  your  plans  if  you  know  of 
any  place  I  could  fit  in  or  something  I  could  do,  please  drop  me  aline.  You 
know  me  pretty  well  how  much  influence  I  have  with  the  press,  what  I  can 
[do] ,  etc.  If  you  can  do  me  a  favor  in  this  respect  I  shall  feel  myself  much 
obliged.  .  .  Truly  yours, 

J.  T.  Headley. 


Burlington,  August  1st,  1846. 
My  dear  Griswold : 

I  have  just  received  your  note,  written  I  must  confess,  worse 
than  anything  I  ever  saw  except  a  letter  which  I  received  of  Gen.  Cass  a 
few  days  since.  The  change  in  your  plan  respecting  the  place  I  should 
occupy  in  your  book  was  quite  unexpected  and  yet  gave  me  much  pleasure ; 
not  so  much  from  the  immortality  you  design  me  as  for  the  advance  I  have 
evidently  made  in  your  good  opinion  as  a  writer.  .  . 

I  wish  before  you  guage  me  as  a  writer  you  would  look  at  some  things 
of  mine  not  merely  descriptive  writing— as,  for  example,  my  review  of 
Alison  in  the  2nd  number  of  the  American  Review,— my  "  Thiers'  Revolu 
tion  "  in  the  April  number  of  1845,  and  my  review  of  Carlyle's  Cromwell  in 
the  April  or  May  number  of  this  year.  .  .  Such  kind  of  writing  as  these  arti 
cles  contain  are  more  peculiarly  my  style  and  my  penchant.  Descriptive 
writing  is  easier  and  sells  better  and  so  I  have  done  more  at  that.  My  biog 
raphy  is  quickly  written.  My  ancestor  on  my  father's  side  was  the  oldest 
son  of  an  English  baronet.  He  quarreled  with  his  father  and  came  here  and 
refused  the  estate  after  it  rightly  became  his.  Mr.  Francis  Headley  is  the 
present  proprietor,  [  and  ]  the  author,  I  see,  of  a  work  of  some  note  on 
Chemistry.  My  father  was  a  clergyman,  and  I  was  born  December  30th, 
1814  in  Walton,  Delaware  Co.,  N.  Y.  My  mother  and  Doctor  Taylor  of 
N.  Haven  are  own  cousins  and  so  was  she  and  Dr.  Nott's  first  wife  by 
whom  he  had  his  children.  I  grew  up  like  most  boys  fond  of  sports,  espe 
cially  of  the  field,  and  hence  my  great  love  at  the  present  day  of  hunting  and 
fishing.  It  is  a  wild  and  romantic  spot  on  thue  banks  of  the  Delaware  where 
I  first  saw  the  light  and  I  attribute  to  the  glorious  and  grand  scenery  of  my 
birthplace  much  of  my  love  of  mountain-climbing  and  indeed  my  descriptive 


J.  T.   HEADLEY.  211 

power.  I  commenced  my  studies  with  the  law  in  view  but  changed  my 
plan.  I  graduated  at  Union  College  and  studied  theology  at  Auburn.  I  was 
licensed  in  New  York  city  and  had  a  large  church  offered  to  me,  but  my 
health  was  miserable  and  my  physician  told  me  I  never  could  preach.  I 
half  believed  him  but  still  unwilling  to  abandon  my  profession  without  an 
effort  I  took  charge  of  a  small  church  in  Stockbridge,  Mass.,  where  I  thought 
I  could  give  myself  the  most  favorable  trial.  After  two  years  and  a  half  I 
broke  down  completely  and  planned  a  European  tour  and  residence  for  my 
health.  I  went  to  Italy  in  the  summer  of  1842  designing  to  spend  the  winter 
there,  the  summer  in  Switzerland,  and  the  next  winter  in  the  East.  But  the 
climate  disagreeing  with  me  entirely— giving  me  severe  attacks  on  the  brain,  I 
was  afraid  to  trust  myself  in  the  East — so  far  away  from  my  friends.  So  I 
remained  in  Italy  only  about  eight  months,  when  I  went  to  Switzerland  and 
travelled  over  it,  cut  off  a  slice  of  Germany  and  the  Netherlands  went  into 
Belgium,  from  thence  to  France,  then  t5  England,  through  England  to 
Wales  and  back  again  to  England  and  so  home,  having  been  gone  between 
one  and  two  years  instead  of  three  or  four  as  I  intended.  My  health  being 
worse  than  when  I  left  home  I  gave  up  all  idea  of  following  my  profession 
and  turned  my  attention  to  literature.  My  first  book  was  a  German  transla 
tion  entitled  "  Scenes  and  Adventures  in  Mexico"  [by  " Sealsfield "  ] .  It 
was  published  by  Winchester  in  the  spring  of  1844  just  before  he  failed  and 
it  was  lost.  My  name  was  not  attached  to  it  but  it  was  a  good  translation. 
Wiley  and  Putnam  have  wanted  t5  republish  it  in  their  series  of  American 
books  but  I  will  not  allow  them  to  put  my  name  to  it  as  there  is  a  good 
quantity  of  German  swearing,  et-cetera,  in  it  which  would  do  me  more  hurt 
than  good.  I  mention  the  work  simply  that  you  may  learn  all  that  I  have 
written  and  not  for  material  to  be  used  up.  My  next  was  Letters  from 
Italy,  next  Alps  and  the  Ehine,  last  Napoleon  and  his  Marshals.  My  next 
will  be,  I  think,  an  illustrated  work  entitled  "  The  Sacred  Mountains."  The 
design  of  the  work  is  to  fill  up  the  outline  sketches  of  the  great  scenes  enact 
ed  in  some  of  the  mountains  on  the  earth  or  described  in  the  Bible.  .  .  I 
mean  my  next  important  work  shall  be  a  history  of  the  last  war.  What  do 
you  think  about  it?  Could  I  beat  Ingersol?  I  forget  to  say  one  thing  in  my 
praise — I  was  a  better  speaker  than  writer  when  I  preached,  and  I  think  I 
am  still.  I  could  get  more  reputation  in  that  department  but  my  health,  and 
especially  the  bronchitis,  now  uses  me  tip.  I  am  thirty-two  years'  old,  un 
married,  and  without  children.  I  have  given  mere  heads  because  I  won't 
puff  myself.  As  to  my  studies  I  have  read  pretty  thoroughly  I  think  the 


212  IRVING,— GREELEY. 

Greek,  Latin,  Hebrew,  German,  French  and  Italian  languages.    In  haste, 
truly  and  affectionately  yours, 

J.  T.  Headley. 

Mr.  Headley  livd  till  the  16th  of  January  1897. 

Sunnyside,  Oct.  21, 1846. 
Sir: 

I  have  repeatedly  of  late  declined  to  sit  for  my  portrait :  partly 
from  a  great  dislike  to  the  operation  itself,  and  partly  because  I  think  there 
are  already  portraits  sufficient  of  me  before  the  public.  I  could  not  comply 
with  your  request,  therefore,  without  the  risk  of  displeasing  those  whose 
requests  I  have  heretofore  refused.  I  hope,  however,  you  may  find  one  or 
other  of  the  portraits  by  Leslie  and  Newton  sufficient  for  your  purpose. 
There  is  one  in  the  possession  of  my  sister  in  New  York,  taken  by  Newton 
shortly  before  we  parted,  some  years  since,  in  England.  It  is  an  excellent 
painting,  and  was  thought  at  the  time  a  good  likeness.  It  has  never  had 
justice  done  to  it  by  the  engraver.  I  enclose  you  a  copy  of  an  engraving  of 
it  published  some  time  since  in  this  country.  It  misses  the  character  and 
expression  of  the  original,  and  is  in  face  and  person  out  of  drawing.  .  .  I  am 
sir,  very  respectfully, 

Washington  Irving. 


New  York,  Nov.  21, 1846. 
R.  W.  Griswold : 

I  send  you  some  hasty  thoughts  about  Emerson  on  the  other 
leaf— mere  suggestions  for  your  own  article.  If  you  wish  further,  write 
confidentially  to  H.  D.  Thoreau,  Concord,  Mass.,  who  can  write  a  much 
account  of  him  than  I  can,  as  I  have  no  time  to  read  or  think.  He  has  lei 
sure  and  talent.  Tell  him  when  his  article  is  to  appear  in  Graham  if  you 
can.  He  will  be  glad  to  hear  from  you. 

I  wish,  if  you  are  to  put  me  in  your  book,  you  had  seen  some  things  I 
have  written— my  manuscript  Lectures  and  the  article  I  spoke  of.  You 
could  find  the  latter  at  any  rate  by  writing  to  Hartford  for  it.  An  orthodox 
clergyman  edited  it. 

I  mean  to  be  at  Philadelphia  for  the  "Webster  dinner  on  the  2d  prox. 
Please  not  to  run  off  that  morning.  Either  come  on  the  1st,  or  stop  till  the 
3d.  Write  me.  Yours, 

Horace  Greeley. 


WILLIS,  POE,  GREELEY.  213 

I  am  not  well  since  election ;  have  a  daughter  three  weeks  old  ;  am 
trying  to  write  some  on  a  lecture,  and  make  very  slow  progress.  Yet  it 
must  be  done. 


New  York,  Nov.  23rd,  1846. 
[  Miss  Mary  L.  Seward  (?)  to  Mrs.  Osgood  ]  : 

.  .  .  Mrs.  Hewitt  is  still  absent,  greatly  to  my  regret,  for  I  like 
her;  her  husband's  name  is  again  entered  upon  the  list  of  volunteers  for 
Mexico.  Miss  Lynch  drew  a  pretty  picture  for  me  of  her  visit  to  Willis  and 
his  bride  at  their  rooms  in  Seventeenth  Street.  Everything  was  couleur  de 
rose.  They  detained  her  to  tea,  and  she  left  quite  charmed  with  the  un- 
afiected  grace  and  goodness  of  her  new  acquaintance.  Willis,  I  imagine,  is 
trying  to  woo  back,  from  the  past,  the  better  hours  of  life,  but  to  such  as  he, 
already  satiated  and  listless,  only  their  pale  phantoms  re-appear  to  mock  at 
and  extinguish  hope.  .  .  I  have  heard  nothing  of  the  Poe  family  except  that 
they  are  in  great  poverty.  Mrs.  Ellet  has  been  very  ill  at  the  South.  Do 
you  see  Miss  Fuller's  letters?  And  have  you  read  her  adventures  on  Ben 
Lomond?  Such  a  blessed  mishap  for  an  authoress.  .  . 

Mary. 


New  York,  Dec.  16,  1846. 
Friend  Griswold, 

Why  don't  Graham  publish  my  friend  Thoreau's  article  on 
Carlyle?  He  has  nothing  in  the  January  number  that  would  be  read  with 
greater  interest.  I  am  disappointed  at  its  non-appearance.  Please  find  out 
what  its  prospect  is,  and  advise  me. 

Mac  [Elrath  ]  says  you  were  to  write  a  notice  of  Lardner  for  Graham, 
and  Graham  excuses  its  non-appearance  by  saying  you  have  not  written  it. 
M.  says  he  gave  you  the  book  on  purpose.  He  wished  me  to  write  about  it. 

When  are  you  coming  on?  I  have  been  asked  to  attend  your  Anti- 
Capital-Punishment  meeting  next  Monday  evening,  but  don't  want  to.  Bus 
iness  so  presses  and  I  am  behind  with  so  many  things.  I  have  half  a  lecture 
written,  and  want  to  write  another  this  winter,  but  get  no  time. 

I  don't  see  that  book  yet.  Why  is  his  chariot  so  long  in  coming? — By 
the  way,  you  don't  happen  to  have  a  MS.  lecture  of  mine,  do  you?  It  is  idle 
to  ask,  but  I  have  lost  one  somehow,  and  it  seems  as  if  nobody  could  have 
stolen  it,  so  that  I  must  have  lent  it  to  someone.  Yours,  write, 

Horace  Greeley. 


214  POE,     —     MISS  LYNCH. 

New  York,  20  Dec.,  1846. 
[Mrs.  Mary  E.  Hewitt  t5  Mrs.  Osgood]  : 

.  .  .  Miss  Bogart  was  there  [  at  the  reception  of  Miss  Lynch  ]  — 
just  returned  from  her  European  tour.  How  well  she  looks!  And  oh, 
Fanny !  She  has  seen  Mont  Blanc  and  all  the  places  that  you  and  I  would 
give  so  much  to  see  I 

The  Misses  Sedgwick  were  present.  They  have  changed  their  even 
ing  from  Wednesday  to  Monday.  All  regret  that  you  are  not  to  be  one  of  us 
this  winter. 

The  Poes  are  in  the  same  state  of  physical  and  pecuniary  suffering — 
indeed  worse,  than  they  were  last  summer,  for  now  the  cold  weather  is 
added  t5  their  accumulation  of  ills.  I  went  to  enquire  of  Mr.  Post  [  pub 
lisher  of  the  Columbian  Magazine]  about  them.  He  confirmed  all  that  I 
had  previously  heard  of  their  condition.  Although  he  says  Mrs.  Clemm  has 
never  told  him  that  they  were  in  want,  yet  she  borrows  a  shilling  often,  to 
get  a  letter  from  the  office— but  Mrs.  Gove  had  been  to  see  the  Poes  and 
found  them  living  in  the  greatest  wretchedness.  I  am  endeavoring  t5  get 
up  a  contribution  for  them  among  the  editors,  and  the  matter  has  got  into 
print — very  much  to  my  regret,  as  I  fear  it  will  hurt  Poe's  pride  to  have  his 
affairs  made  so  public.  .  . 

Did  you  get  my  letter  enclosing  a  reply  t5  Grace  Greenwood?  Let  me 
know  everything  at  your  earliest  convenience.  I  have  removed  from  the 
Athenzeum — two  weeks  since — to  Mrs.  Kice's,  No.  nine  Murray  St. — the 
next  house  to  the  Murray  St.  House — so  you  see  I  am  quite  in  our  friend 
Miss  Seward's  neighborhood  still.  I  am  most  comfortably  situated,  and  my 
little  parlor  would  suit  your  idea  of  a  parlor  exactly.  .  . 

Mary. 


In  "The  Independent"  of  1  Feb.  1894,  Mr.  Stoddard  pleas 
antly  describes  Miss  Lynch's  "evenings"  : — 

"  The  best  preparation  for  reading  these  Memoirs  of  Mrs. 
Botta  [he  says]  is  a  glance  over  the  first  forty  or  fifty  names 
in  the  series  of  papers  which  Edgar  Allan  Poe  contributed,  in 
1846,  t6  *  The  Lady's  Book,'  of  L.  A.  Godey.  Familiar  with  the 
reputation  of  the  ladies  and  gentlemen  who  figure  in  this  list, 
my  acquaintance  with  Mrs.  Botta  dates  back  only  forty-four 
years,  when,  a  timid  young  person  of  twenty-four,  I  was  intro- 


MISS  LYNCH  AND  HER  FRIENDS.  215 

duced  int6  her  salon,  either  by  Dr.  Rufus  Wilmot  Griswold,  or 
by  Mr.  Bayard  Taylor.  I  had  scrawled  some  immature  verse, 
which  Mr.  Seba  Smith  and  Mrs.  Caroline  M.  Kirkland  thought 
not  entirely  unworthy  of  the  places  which  they  gave  it,  one  in 
*  The  Rover,'  a  little  weekly,  the  other  in  '  The  Union  Maga 
zine,'  a  monthly  of  larger  size,  with  illustrations  on  wood  and 
steel,  mezzotints,  if  my  memory  is  not  at  fault,  by  Mr.  John 
Sartain.  Mrs.  Botta,  wh6  was  then  Miss  Anne  Charlotte 
Lynch,  was  known  t6  me  before  the  date  I  have  specified 
through  her  poems  in  '  Graham's  Magazine '  and  other  periodi 
cals,  which  were  copied  in  '  The  Evening  Mirror,'  of  which  Mr. 
Nathaniel  Parker  Willis  was  editor-in-chief,  and  in  '  The  New 
York  Tribune,'  the  critical  chair  of  which  was  filled  by  Mr. 
George  Ripley.  T6  meet  this  accomplished  gentlewoman  was  a 
distinction,  since  in  meeting  her  one  met  her  friends,  the  least  of 
whom  was  worth  knowing.  She  lived,  as  nearly  as  I  now 
recollect,  on  the  south  side  of  Ninth  Street,  not  far  from  Fifth 
Avenue,  and  with  her  was  her  elderly  mother,  and  a  young 
woman  wh6  is  now  Mrs.  S.  M.  C.  Ewer,  and  was  a  sister  of 
Mr.  Charles  Congdon,  a  brilliant  humorist,  wh6m  I  did  not 
know  until  ten  years  later.  Wh6  witnessed  my  awkward  en 
trance  int6  Miss  Lynch's  well-lighted  parlor?  I  have  forgotten 
who  they  were.  I  only  know  that  the  night  was  a  cold  one; 
late  in  November,  I  fancy,  and  that,  chilled  through  and 
through,  in  spite  of  a  thick  cloak  which  I  wore,  I  stooped  and 
chafed  my  hands  before  her  glowing  coal  fire.  Many  a  day 
passed  before  I  heard  the  last  story  about  my  blundering 
gaucherie  on  that  woful  night — a  gaucherie  which  worsened 
itself  in  the  sharp  eyes  of  Phyllis.  wh6  declared  that  she  won 
dered  at  her  foolish  Corydon.  The  Willises  were  there,  the 
poet  wh6  wrote  "Scripture  Sketches"  in  his  youth,  and  had 
written  much  versatile  poetry  and  prose  since — letters  from  all 
quarters  of  the  world — his  second  wife  and  his  daughter  Imo 
gen.  But  before  these  I  see  Miss  Lynch,  tall,  gracious,  kind 
ly,  the  woman  that  she  remained  until  the  cold  March  morn 
ing  tw6  years  ago  when  she  wandered  out  int6  the  worlds 


216  MISS  LYNCH  AND  HER  FRIENDS. 

beyond  this  workaday  world  of  ours.  Present,  also,  were  tw6 
of  the  swarming  sisterhood  of  American  singers,  an  elderly 
spinster  [  Miss  Bogart  ]  wh6  was  remembered  through  one  of 
her  solemn  lyrics,  entitled,  I  think,  "  He  Came  too  Late,"  and 
a  more  hopeful  married  woman,  wh6se  songs  were  of  a  more 
cheerful  cast.  .  .  On  a  later  occasion,  early  in  the  following 
spring,  I  met  another  singer  of  tender  melodies.  She  came  of 
a  poetic  family,  for,  besides  herself,  I  can  recall  a  sister  wh6 
wrote  fairly  well.  Born  in  Boston,  children  of  a  merchant 
there  named  Locke,  Frances  Sargent  spent  a  portion  of  her 
girlhood  where  I  passed  my  boyhood,  in  Hingham,  Mass., 
where,  iu  my  seventh  year,  Mr.  William  Gilmore  Simms  im 
provised  his  "Atalantis:  A  Tale  of  the  Sea."  Miss  Locke 
married  a  painter  named  Osgood,  with  whom  she  sailed  for 
London,  where  he  drew  many  celebrities,  and  she  warbled  her 
way  into  their  affections,  remembering  her  native  land  in  her 
first  book,  "A  Wreath  of  Wild  Flowers  from  New  England." 
When  I  met  this  gentle  lady,  seven-and-thirty,  or  it  may  be 
thirty-eight  summers  had  touched  her,  lightly,  as  it  seemed, 
but  heavily,  as  it  proved  ;  for,  always  fragile,  she  was  in  a 
decline,  reminding  her  friends,  after  her  soul  had  taken  its 
flight,  of  Young's  Narcissa — 

"She  sparkled,  was  exhaled,  and  went  to  Heaven." 

Mrs.  Osgood  was  a  paragon.  For,  loved  of  all  men  who  knew 
her,  she  was  hated  by  no  woman  who  ever  felt  the  charm  of 
her  presence.  Poe  was  enamored  of  her,  or  fancied  that  he 
was,  which  with  him  was  the  same  thing.  He  dedicated  a  copy 
of  verses  t6  her,  a  trifle  which  had  served  the  same  purpose 
twice  before.  He  concealed  her  name  in  an  effusion  of  twenty 
lines,  and  he  reviewed  her  in  his  glowing  fashion,  and  no  one 
disputed  the  accuracy  of  his  verdict,  in  her  case.  But  Poe  had 
a  rival  in  her  affections  in  Dr.  Griswold,  wh6m  she  transform 
ed  for  the  moment  int6  an  impassioned  poet.  When  Edgar 
Allan  was  drugged  t6  death  at  Baltimore,  about  six  months 
before  the  time  of  which  I  am  writing,  I  scribbled  some  verse 
in  his  memory ;  and  she  was  good  enough  t6  think  some  of  it 


MRS.  OSGOOD.  217 

not  unworthy  of  its  theme.  She  died  a  few  weeks  later,  and 
was  buried  in  a  hillside  grave  at  Hingham  [  as  a  matter  of  fact, 
Mrs.  Osgood  was  buried  at  Mt.  Auburn,  15  May,  1850,  having 
died  in  New  York  the  12th.  ]  .  .  . 

I  return  to  the  list  of  names  in  Foe's  "  Literati  of  New  York 
City,"  and  recover  others  wh6m  I  saw  at  Miss  Lynch's  even 
ings  at  home.  Constantly  there  was  Mr.  W.  M.  Gillespie,  a 
mathematician  of  eminence,  wh6  stammered  in  his  speech ; 
Dr.  J.  W.  Francis,  wh6  knew  and  was  known  t6  everybod}T,  a 
florid  gentleman  with  flowing  white  locks  ;  and  Ralph  Hoyt. 
Then  came  Mrs.  Ann  8.  Stephens,  poetess,  writer  of  stories, 
and,  later,  of  three  or  four  novels;  and  next  Mrs.  Kirkland, 
Mrs.  Embury,  Miss  Sedgwick,  Mrs.  Hewitt,  Mrs.  Elizabeth 
Oakes  Smith,  and  Dr.  Thomas  Ward,  who,  under  the  Horatian 
signature  of  Flaccus,  celebrated  "  Passaic,  a  Group  of  Poems 
Touching  that  River,  with  other  Poems."  Greater  names  were 
those  of  Bryant  and  Halleck,  and  one  lesser,  in  the  person  of 
the  bard  wh6  entreated  the  woodman  t6  spare  the  tree." 

The  chronology  of  the  Mr.  Stoddard's  account  is  mixd, 
Willis,  for  instance,  having  ceased  to  edit  'The  Mirror' in 
November  1845. 

I  append  the  "effusion  of  twenty  lines"  to  which  Mr.  Stod- 
dard  refers.  It  was  read  at  a  Valentine  party  at  the  house  of 
Miss  Lynch,  on  the  14th  of  February  1846,  and  was  published 
in  "  The  Evening  Mirror"  of  the  21st, — which  fact  did  not  pre 
vent  Poe's  selling  it  as  original  t6  tw6  other  periodicals  three 
years  later.  The  letters  ar  not  italicised  in  the  author's  copy. 
To 

1  For  her  these  lines  are  penned,  whose  luminous  eyes, 

2  Bright  and  expressive  as  the  stars  of  Leda, 

3  Shall  find  her  own  sweet  name  that,  nestling,  lies 

4  Upon  this  page,  enwrapped  from  every  reader. 

5  Search  narrowly  these  words,  which  hold  a  treasure 

6  Divine — a  talisman — an  amulet 


218  MRS.  OSGOOD. 

7  That  must  be  worn  at  heart.     Search  well  the  measure 

8  The  words — the  letters  themselves.     Do  not  forget 

9  The  smallest  point,  or  you  may  lose  your  labor. 

10  And  yet  there  is  in  this  no  Gordian  knot 

11  Which  one  mi^ht  not  undo  without  a  sabre 

12  If  one  could  merely  comprehend  the  plot. 

13  Upon  the  open  page  on  which  are  peering 

14  Such  sweet  eyes  wow,  there  lies,  I  say,  perdu, 

15  A  musical  name  oft  uttered  in  the  hearing 

16  Of  poets,  by  poets — for  the  name  is  a  poet's  too. 

17  In  common  sequence  set,  the  letters  lying, 

18  Compose  a  sound  delighting  all  to  hear — 

19  Ah,  this  you'd  have  no  trouble  in  descrying 

20  Were  you  not  something  of  a  dunce,  my  dear  : — 

21  And  now  I  leave  these  riddles  to  their  Seer. 


If  this  is  meritorious   as   a   poem,  some   rimes  which  Mrs. 

Osgood  addressed  to  Griswold,  3d  March  1849,  ar  more  curi 
ous  as  an  intellectual  exercise  : — 

1  For  one,  whose  being  is  to  mine  a  star,  1 

2  Trembling  I  weave  in  lines  of  love  and  fun  2 

3  What  Fame  before  has  echoed  near  and/ar.  3 

4  A  sormet  if  you  like, — I'll  give  you  one  4 

5  To  be  cross-questioned  ere  its  truth  is  solv'd  5 

6  Here  veiled  and  hidden  in  a  rhyming  wreath  6 

7  A  name  is  turned  with  mine  in  cunning  sheath  7 

8  And  unless  by  some  marvel  rare  evolved  8 

9  Forever  folded  from  all  idler  eyes  9 

10  Silent  and  secret  still  it  treasured  lies  10 

11  Whilst  mine  goes  winding  onward,  as  a  rill  11 

12  Thro'  a  deep  wood  in  unseen  joyance  dances  12 

13  Calling  in  melody's  bewi/dering  thrill  13 

14  Whilst  thro'  dim  leaves  its  partner  dreams  and  glances.  14 


JAMES  T:  FIELDS.  219 

Dear  Rufus,  while  the  "  midnight  chimes" 
In  belfrys  weave  their  merry  rhymes — 
Why  may  not  I  (  you  know  the  place 
In  Suffolk  chambers)  join  the  race, — 
And  while  the  Christmas  bells  are  waking, 
Give  my  old  Pegasus  a  shaking ! 

And  first,  why  don't  you  write  us,  Gris? 
And  second,  why  not  show  your  phiz 
Where  School  Street  corners  Washington, 
And  books,  just  born,  begin  t6  run  ; — 
Where  Dr.  Choules  drops  in  t6  smoke, 
And  Whipple  stops  t6  have  his  joke ; — 
In  short,  where  all  the  women  join 
T6  swell  the  bulk  of  Ticknor's  com  ! 

Why  don't  you  come?  'tis  many  a  year 

Since  Gris.  and  all  that's  gay  were  here ; 

Since  laughter,  we  remember  well, 

In  number  2  like  music  fell ; 

And  since  at  "  Haven's  gay  saloon," 

You  stirred  with  us  the  coffee  spoon ! 

Why  can't  you  come?  'tis  but  a  step, 
A  railroad  ride,  a  steamboat  trip ; 
A  parting  glance  at  Walnut  Street, 
And  on  the  Tremont  plant  your  feet ! 
Swift  Olmstead  waits  with  ready  pen 
T6  chronicle  the  best  of  men  ; — 
You  must,  you  shall,  you  can't  refuse 
Again  with  us  t6  drink  and  muse  ! 

Come  while  you're  young ; — we're  getting  old, 
Our  blood  is  growing  thin  and  cold, — 
Poor  Tom  Gould  limps  and  Whipple  goes 
With  spectacles  upon  his  nose. 
Even  I,  so  sound  of  wind  and  limb 
When  last  we  met,  am  wasting  slim ; 


220  OLIVER  WENDELL  HOLMES. 

And  if,  dear  Gris.,  you  long  delay, 
You'll  find  us  packed  in  huts  of  clay. 

Then  boys  for  copy  cease  to  call ! 
Cut  printers,  Rufus,  one  and  all ! 
Our  native  oracles,  a  week 
Can  wait,  before  they  learn  to  speak. 
Tie  up  your  knocker,  say  you're  sick, 
And  Hart  will  never  learn  the  trick  ! 
Come  !  Rufus,  Come  !  'tis  our  behest, 
Give  those  dead  Prosers  one  more  rest ! 

Our  oysters  from  their  shells  exclaim 

"  Stewed,  Broiled,  or  Roast, — 'tis  all  the  same, 

As  he  may  choose,  when  Gris.  arrives 

We  give  our  bodies  t6  the  knives, — 

We  long  t6  die,— for  fill  we  shall 

The  belly  of  this  Prodigal !" 

J.  T.  F[ields] 
Christmas  Week,  1846. 


My  dear  Sir  [Fields  ?], 

I  hope  you  will  do  whatever  you  can  to  favor  Mr.  Poe  in  the 
matter  of  which  he  spoke  to  you  in  his  letter.  I  suppose  you  will  send  him 
a  copy  of  my  poems  and  one  of  "  Urania, "  and  refer  him  for  the  little  facts 
of  my  outward  existence  to  the  preface  to  my  volume  and  to  Mr.  Griswold's 
book.  I  cannot  think  that  he  would  be  much  interested  to  know  that  I  have 
a  little  family  growing  up  about  me  since  friend  Rufus  posted  up  my  history. 
This  is  almost  the  only  change  in  my  circumstances  which  has  occurred  since 
that  date.  But  if  there  is  anything  about  me  which  a  friend  might  say  and  a 
well-wisher  publish,  say  it  and  trust  to  Mr.  Poe's  discretion.  I  really  believe, 
however,  that  I  have  nothing  at  present  to  show  for  the  last  half  a  dozen 
years  of  my  life,  which  however  have  not  been  idle,  and  may  some  time  or 
other  bear  their  fruit. 

I  have  always  thought  Mr.  Poe  entertained  a  favorable  opinion  of  me 
since  he  taught  me  how  to  scan  one  of  my  own  poems.  And  I  am  not 
ashamed,  though  it  may  be  very  unphilosophical,  to  be  grateful  for  his  good 


THE  PROSE-WRITERS  OF  AMERICA.  221 

opinion,  and  even  venture  to  hope  that  he  may  find  something  to  approve  in 
one  or  two  of  my  last  poems — in  the  one  you  will  send  him  and  in  the  Pil 
grim  of  last  year  if  he  ever  sees  it. 

As  for  the  autograph,  that  is  a  ticklish  matter.  I  intend  trying  for 
one  on  the  next  page,  but  this  sheet  has  a  hot-pressed,  repulsive  kind  of 
polish  more  genteel  than  agreeable  to  the  ambitious  designs  of  one  wh5 
would  desire  to  be  enrolled  upon  the  list  of  calligraphers.  Like  my  eldest 
boy,  it  does  not  stick  to  its  letters ;  like  some  of  my  Southern  friends  it 
seems  to  have  a  natural  antipathy  to  the  blacks.  But  the  attempt  must  be 
made. 

Modestly,  therefore,  yet  firmly,  avoiding  equally  the  pretentious  bold 
ness  of  John  Hancock,  and  the  voluntary  self-diminution  of  those  who  write 
their  names  in  the  circumference  of  the  same  sixpence  which  already  covers 
a  copy  of  the  Lord's  prayer  in  full,  I  subscribe  myself  Yours  very  truly, 

Oliver  Wendell  Holmes. 
Boston,  Dec.  29, 1846. 


Philad'a,  29  Dec.,  1846. 
Dear  James, 

...  My  book  .  .  .  will  be  published  in  two  or  three  weeks.  I 
dread  its  appearance.  "Young  America"  will  be  rabid;  and  what  will  be 
worse,  you  and  my  kind  friends  will  be  disappointed.  I  have  worked  upon 
it  pretty  steadily  for  nineteen  months,  but  it  is  incomplete,  and  poor  indeed 
in  so  many  ways,  that  I  grow  sick  with  the  fear  that  it  will  be  read  by  those 
who  know  how  such  a  book  should  be  made.  Apologise  for  me  in  advance 
to  "Macaulay"  [Whipple].  In  truth  I  grew  conscientious  as  I  drew  near 
the  end  of  my  labors,  and  felt  that  I  must  make  an  example  of  somebody, 
and  of  whom  could  I  write  honestly  but  of  a  friend  ? .  .  . 

R.  W.  G. 


New  York,  Jan.  12,  1847. 
Friend  Gris. : 

As  you  don't  come  along  at  all,  and  are  entirely  invisible,  be  so 
good  as  to  send  me  my  Lecture,  and  tell  me  when  is  likely  t5  be  the  advent 
of  your  book,  when  you  are  coming  here,  etc.,  etc.  I  am  going  East  soon — 
perhaps  on  Friday— to  lecture,  and  want  to  take  my  lectures  with  me,  for 
use  and  reference.  Hereof  fail  not,  but  send  and  write  promptly,  and 
receive  the  thanks  of  Yours, 

Horace  Greeley. 


222  j;   PENDLETON  KENNEDY. 

Have  you  seen  Emerson's  Poems?    Of  course  you  have.    Guess  you 
wish  some  of  'em  were  in  that  new  Edition  of  the  Poets? 


Washington,  Jan.  24, 1847. 
Dear  Sir— 

The  subject  of  international  copyright  is  one  towards  which  I 
have  not  directed  my  attention  sufficiently  to  form  a  deliberate  and  settled 
opinion ;  nor  shall  I  have  leisure  to  do  so  during  the  remainder  of  this  short 
and  busy  session. 

But  should  you  and  other  American  authors  and  literary  gentlemen 
think  it  proper  to  commit  the  subject  to  my  charge,  at  the  next  session,  I 
would  direct  my  attention  to  it  in  the  recess  and  endeavor  to  carry  it  through 
Congress,  should  my  opinion,  on  a  careful  examination,  be  in  its  favor. 

I  would  in  the  meantime  be  glad  to  be  put  in  possession  of  such  docu 
ments  as  would  present  fully  both  sides.  With  great  respect,  Yours  etc., 

J.  C.  Calhoun. 


Annapolis,  Md.,  Jan.  13,  1847. 
My  dear  Griswold  : — 

What  of  your  book?  What  of  my  portrait?  What  of  the  Frois- 
sart  Ballads? — and  what  of  yourself  ?  I  thought  you  were  to  be  "along  our 
way"  in  December?  I  have  heard  nothing  of  you. 

.  .  .  Have  you  seen  that  ox-faced  thing  in  the  American  Eeview,  en 
graved  from  a  damaged  and  condemned  daguerreotype  in  Edwards'  collec 
tion,  New  York?  This  was  done  without  the  slightest  intimation  to  me,  and 
when  I  saw  it  very  much  to  my  discomposure.  But  I  couldn't  control  it, 
and  was  obliged  to  make  the  best  of  it. 

...  If  you  pass  through  Baltimore  before  the  10th  of  March,  make 
your  visit  there  on  Saturday  and  Sunday,  as  only  on  those  days  can  I  get 
away  from  here.  They  have  made  me  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Delegates, 
and  I  am  obliged  to  be  punctually  at  my  post  every  morning.  Yours  truly, 

J.  P.  Kennedy. 


It  will  be  noticed  that  many  of  the  letters  mentioned  in  the 
Diary  ar  not  printed.  This  is  because  they  wer  not  among 
those  received  by  the  editor  from  Mr.  Griswold's  executor,  nor 
has  the  former  any  means  of  learning  in  wh6se  hands  they 
now  ar. 


HORACE  GREELEY.  223 

Diary :  Feb.  22.  Furness  told  me  of  Johnson's  informing  John  Frost 
he  was  not  mentioned  in  uThe  Prose  Writers":  an  amusing  scene.  .  .  Am 
invited  to  write  "Washington  and  his  Generals." 

Diary :    Feb.  23.    A  letter  from  Raymond,  in  a  most  friendly  spirit.  .  . 

Diary :    Feb.  25.    Busy  all  day  at  Graham's  office. 


New  York,  March  1st,  1847. 
K.  W.  Griswold,  Esq.,  Dear  Sir: 

I  send  you  herewith  a  copy  of  Daggett's  "New  York  Adver 
tiser,"  in  a  business  point  of  view.  I  have  told  D.  that  you  would  make  him 
up  a  column  of  choice  Literary  matter  for  his  next  number  better  than  any 
other  man  can  do  it,  and  you  must  justify  my  recommendation.  Give  him  a 
good  day's  work,  send  him  the  copy  by  Saturday  of  this  week,  and  charge 
him  $10. 

You  understand  what  is  wanted.  A  column  not  of  puffs  of  your  books,- 
nor  Carey's,  nor  anybody's,  but  of  stuff  that  will  cause  the  paper  to  be  read 
and  preserved.  You  can  put  it  together  if  you  will.  No  odds  about  origin 
ality,  only  it  must  not  be  common,  and  yet  it  must  be  adapted  to  general 
tastes,  not  special.  Try  to  do  it  well.  A  square  or  two  of  Literary  Intelli 
gence,  very  compact,  might  form  a  part,  only  it  must  be  impartial. 

Gris.  make  up  for  me  a  brief  collection  of  the  best  Epigrams  in  the 
Language — say  three  folio  sheets  of  MSS.  A  page  may  be  given  to  Epitaphs 
if  you  please,  though  I  don't  care.  Why  did  you  run  off  without  saying 
Go'db'y'e?  Yours, 

H.  Greeley. 

I  shall  leave  the  city  for  N.  H.  Thursday  morning. 


Diary :    Mar.  3.    ...  The  Prose  Writers  of  America  published  today. 
Diary :    Mar.  4.    ...  Letter  from  Halleck  .  .  . 


Philadelphia,  7th  March,  1847.  ' 
Dear  James  [Fields], 

The  book  [  Prose  Writers  ]  is  not  received  with  kindness,  and  I 
persuade  myself  that  it  receives  something  less  than  justice,  though  I  am  as 
sensible  as  any  one  of  its  faults.  One  of  our  editors  here  says  it  is  a  bundle 
of  puffs  of  my  friends.  .  .  Another  says  it  is  a  partial  compilation,  but  there 
is  enough  original  matter  in  it — such  as  it  is — for  a  brace  of  duodecimos. 
Another  declares  it  is  edited  by  me— perhaps  because  he  does  not  know  the 
use  of  words,  perhaps  because  he  supposes  it  is  an  old  book,  of  which  I  have 


224  THE  PROSE  WRITERS. 

been  giving  the  world  a  new  impression.  ..  Mr.  Chandler  here— and  Mr. 
Jno.  Frost,  Mr.  "Table  Beer"  Morris  and  Messrs,  the  70  ...  are  aston 
ished,  and  more  indignant  even  than  surprised.  Greeley  is  angry 
at  what  I  offer  under  the  name  of  Margaret  [Fuller],  which  is  very 
badly  written  though  all  true.  Inman,  Parke  Godwin,  W.  A.  Jones 
(how  could  Whipple  puff  that  miserable  diluter  of  old  New  Monthly 
articles?)— E.  A.  Duyckinck,  J.  B.  Auld,  and  the  whole  mob  of  "Young 
Americans,"  "swear  terribly"  that  they're  omitted  and  that  the  amiable 
Cornelius,  centurion  of  the  sect,  is  so  "  abused."  Then  there  is  Mrs.  Em 
bury,  Mrs.  Hale,  Mrs.  Ann  S.  Stephens,  Mrs.  Sigourney,  Mrs.  Osgood,  Mrs. 
Ellet, — they  all  have  warm  admirers,  and  could  bring  witnesses  into  court, 
every  one  of  them,  to  prove  that  they  are  equal  to  De  Stael  .  .  .  and  they  are 
believed.  Talking  of  women  who  make  books,  we  have  had  but  one  in 
America  who  merited  her  reputation — Maria  Brooks.  Mrs.  Smith  has  talent 
for  writing,  and  quick  apprehension — but  the  literature  of  women,  every 
where,  is,  for  the  most  part,  sauzle — an  expressive  word  from  the  feminine 
vocabulary.  .  .  I  call  these  names  to  your  memory  that  you  may  know  why 
my  book  is  damned  by  all  the  newspapers  so.  It  has  not  yet  received  as 
civil  a  notice  as  the  U.  S.  Gazette  here  usually  gives  to  a  two-penny  book  of 
nursery  rhymes.  You  will  pardon  my  weakness  in  thinking  of  the  failure  I 
have  made,  for  you  know  it  cost  me  much  time  and  toil.  It  deserves  indeed 
no  great  success,  but  it  is  condemned  for  the  very  reasons  of  the  little  excel 
lence  it  has.  .  . 

I  am  going  to  New  York  early  in  May  to  translate  for  Harper,  and 
edit,  The  Biographic  Universelle.  It  will  occupy  me  a  year  and  a  half  or 
two  years,  constantly.  .  . 

R.  W."  G. 


Boston,  March  9, 1847. 
My  dear  Griswold, 

I  intended  to  have  written  to  you  a  week  ago,  but  have  been  pre 
vented  by  a  thousand  things.  As  soon  as  I  received  the  sheets  of  your  new 
book  I  prepared  a  hasty  notice  for  Graham,  which  I  supposed  you  would 
see.  I  think  your  work  is  the  best  you  have  done  in  respect  to  the  literary 
execution,  and  the  general  independence  and  decidedness  of  the  opinions. 
I  have  read  it  with  a  great  deal  of  interest.  I  think  that  a  number  were 
omitted  who  should  have  appeared,  especially  Sumner,  Hillard  and  a  few 
others  in  these  diggin's.  I  tell  people  that  your  work  was  to  have  been 


E.  P.  WHIPPLE.  225 

a  hundred  pages  more,  but  was  cut  down  by  the  publishers.  There  is  a  cer 
tain  sulky,  sullen  magnificence  about  portions  of  your  introductory  essay 
which  especially  takes  me.  You  kick  more  in  this  book  than  any  other.  I 
have  noticed  some  errors  which  I  shall  not  trouble  you  with,  being  errors  of 
opinion.  Boweu  desires  me  to  review  the  book  for  his  July  number — a  task 
which  I  think  I  may  do.  I  should  treat  it  more  tenderly  than  any  body  else 
among  his  contributors. 

I  owe  you  an  acknowledgement  for  the  undeserved  panegyric  you  so 
bountifully  pour  upon  me.  Probably  many  of  the  gentlemen  who  are 
omitted  will  pounce  upon  me  for  my  good  luck.  They  will  have  the  devil 
upon  them  if  they  do.  The  truth  is,  from  my  connection  with  literary 
organs,  I  enjoy  a  great  deal  of  power,  which  would  make  me  a  dangerous 
gentleman  to  abuse.  Seriously,  I  think  you  have  d5ne  me,  relatively,  too 
much  honor.  It  would  not  be  kind,  however,  to  run  you  down  for  that. 

What  think  you  of  Duyckinck's  new  journal?  ["The  Literary 
World  "  ]  It  is  better  than  any  thing  we  have  had  in  the  United  States,  and 
if  it  succeeds,  and  cuts  clear  from  all  sectional  and  personal  predilections, 
will  be  a  valuable  aid  to  American  literature. 

In  the  next  number  of  the  North  American,  Bo  wen  has  an  article 
directed  against  Emerson's  Poems.  By  the  way  you  once  wrote  me  about  a 
review  of  Simms,  in  the  N.  A. ;  I  thought  you  might  suppose  I  was  the  au 
thor.  It  was  not  so.  Felton  did  that  business. 

Fields  is  chirping.  I  hope  to  see  you  on  here  soon.  I  am  not  married 
yet,  but  hope  to  be  before  the  year  is  out.  The  lady  is  the  best  in  the  world, 
of  course,  and  I  am  the  luckiest  of  men. 

All  happiness  to  you,  my  boy,  and  good  luck  to  all  your  brain-children, 
and  good  riddance  to  all  your  troubles — these  are  the  blessings  of  Yours 
Werry  Kespectably, 

E.  P.  W. 


Diary :    Mar.  12.    ...  Am  criticised  severely  for  omitting  J.  H.  Ingra- 
ham,  T.  S.  Arthur,  and  Wilmer!  from  the  P.  W. 

One  of  the  above  named  was  thus  characterized  in  *  The 
Knickerbocker '  for  December  of  this  year  : —  '  Professor 
Ingraham,'  wh6  has  within  the  last  ten  years  written  more  im 
moral  works  than  any  other  of  the  many  penny-a-line  scribblers 
to  wh6m  the  '  cheap  and  nasty '  school  of  ephemeral  publica- 


226  HORACE  GREELEY. 

tions  have  given  birth,  has  taken  t6  the  Church  for   a   *  living.' 

*  We  don't  know,'  says  the  lively  and  clever  *  Sunday  Dispatch,' 

*  whether  t6  sympathize  with   the   Public,  the   Church,  or   the 
Professor  himself.     We  resign  the  man  wh6  wrote  *  The  Cigar- 
Girl  of  Broadway'  and  *  The  Dancing  Feather,'  thankful  that 
he  has  escaped  from  the  thick  smoke  of  sin  and  emerged  int6  a 
purer  atmosphere.'  " 


New  York,  March  13, 1847. 
R.  W.  G., 

Yours  received  this  day,  but  I  had  written  and  brought  in  my 
notice  of  your  book  last  night.  I  wrote  very  hastily,  with  half  a  dozen 
jawing  at  me  and  my  boy  raising  all  sorts  of  mischief  in  my  office,  whereby 
there  are  several  tautological  expressions  in  the  notice,  but  it  is  pretty  fair 
nevertheless,  though  it  would  have  been  better  if  I  could  have  read  the  proof. 

Why  did  you  ask  about  the  delay?  Didn't  I  tell  you  in  my  last  that  I 
was  off  to  New  Hampshire  to  take  a  hand  in  the  fight  there  going  on?  I 
only  got  home  Wednesday  morning,  and  despatched  your  book  as  soon 
thereafter  as  possible.  It  had  not  come  to  hand  when  I  left,  a  week  ago 
Thursday  morning.  That's  the  whole  story. 

Your  scraps  for  Daggett,  were  a  little  late,  but  in  season,  I  hope.  You 
must  have  seen  the  1st  No.  of  his  Advertiser;  I  asked  you  to  write  for  the 
second  and  you  should  have  sent  to  him  forthwith.  Yours, 

H.  Greeley. 

Read  Raymond's  and  my  last  in  Friday's  Tribune. 

In   his  autobiography   Mr.  Greeley  touchingly  refers  t6   the 
death  of  this  son,  which  took  place  in  July  1849. 


New  York,  March  13, 1847. 
My  dear  Sir, 

Many  thanks  for  your  kind  intention  in  regard  to  the  '  Prose 
Writers.'  No  copy  has  been  received  at  the  Mirror  Office,  and  W.  and  P. 
say  that  none  has  been  received  by  them  for  the  Mirror  or  me.  It  will  give 
me  much  pleasure  to  receive  a  copy  and  I  will  say  a  word  about  it  in  the  two 
or  three  papers  for  which  I  occasionally  write.  But  I  shall  be  prevented  the 
pleasure  of  saying  anything  ill-natured  about  it,  as  people  would  suspect  me 


CHARLES  F.  BRIGGS.  227 

of  being  influenced  by  spite  because  my  own  name  is  not  included  among 
the  Authors.  I  hope,  however,  that  you  will  not  for  a  moment  believe  that 
I  ever  anticipated  seeing  my  name  among  the  '  prose  writers  of  America.' 
I  never  had  such  a  thought,  and  should  have  been  greatly  astonished  at 
seeing  it  there.  I  remember  having  heard  you  say  that  you  have  the  fullest 
collection  of  American  books  in  the  country,  and  it  was  my  intention  to  send 
you  two  or  three  volumes  of  mine,  which  were  anonymously  published,  but 
as  our  acquaintance  was  slight,  I  feared  that  you  might  mistrust  my  motives. 
But  your  book  having  appeared  I  will,  at  a  convenient  season,  make  a  small 
addition  to  your  already  large  library.  I  have  not  yet  seen  the  <  Prose- 
Writers,'  but  I  believe  you  have  not  included  in  your  list  the  prominent 
Newspaper  Authors  of  the  Country.  This  I  think  is  a  double  mistake ;  in 
the  first  place  they  are  the  real  writers  of  the  country  who  are,  at  least,  the 
Exponents  of  National  thought,  if  they  are  not  directors  of  it;  and  in  the 
second  place  you  lose  the  favorable  feeling  of  an  influential  class,  which,  in 
these  days  of  dollars  and  cents  should  always  be  secured  when  it  can  with 
out  a  sacrifice  of  principle.  You  will  excuse  the  freedom  of  my  remarks, 
and  believe  them  well  intended,  if  they  are  not  well  in  themselves. 

I  have  just  received  a  letter  from  Lowell  announcing  the  death  of  his 
only  child,  a  beautiful  girl  little  more  than  a  year  old.  It  is  altogether  the 
most  beautiful  piece  of  prose  writing  that  I  have  ever  read.  I  do  not  know 
whether  or  not  you  have  included  him  in  the  Catalogue  of  American  prose 
writers,  but  my  partiality  for  him  is  so  great  that  I  should  be  tempted  to  put 
his  name  in  the  front  rank  of  them  all.  The  only  person  who  has  expressed 
an  opinion  of  the  book  in  my  hearing  was  Jones  who,  of  course,  thought 
that  certain  persons  were  left  out  who  had  a  right  to  a  place  in  it.  I  see 
that  Dana  gives  a  very  generous,  but  rather  slight  notice  of  it  in  the  Tribune 
of  this  morning.  With  much  esteem,  Your  friend  and  ob't  servant, 

Charles  F.  Briggs. 


Diary  :    Mar.  23.    Kind  letters  from  Raymond  and  Hoffman. 
Diary :    April  8.    Letter  from  R.  W.  Emerson,  in  which  he  says  he 
does  not  think  a  philosopher  [  ?]  is  obliged  to  understand  his  own  opinions. 


Boston,  April  26,  1847. 
My  dear  Griswold, 

I  have  rec'd  your  favor  and  make  haste  to  answer  it.    I  hope  the 
book  will  be  tenderly  received  in  England,  though  the  Examiner  and  Spec- 


228  H:  NORMAN  HUDSON. 

tator  newspapers  are  sure  to  attack  it.  The  chief  objection  will  be  the 
general  tone  of  your  composition,  and  the  occasional  dogmatism  with  which 
your  opinions  are  expressed— also  a  certain  sulky  magnificence  of  style  in 
some  parts — a  clerical  way  of  saying  u  I  don't  care  a  damn  for  anybody" — 
which  is  open  t5  criticism.  If  you  desire  t5  avoid  the  objections  to  these  you 
must  carefully  go  over  your  portions,  and  soften  a  little  here  and  there. 
You  had  better  leave  out  that  portion  of  your  remarks  about  Burke  as  com 
pared  to  Webster.  It  would  be  impossible  for  me  to  suggest  alterations  to 
any  extent  in  a  letter.  The  best  way  would  be  for  you  to  take  some  literary 
friend  who  understands  the  feeling  of  the  London  public  and  have  him  go 
over  the  book  with  you. 

I  wish  you  could  manage  in  some  way  not  to  have  me  come  last  in  the 
collection  as  it  will  expose  me  particularly  to  the  shots  of  critics.  Also  leave 
out  of  your  notice  of  me  all  biographical  matter  except  the  time  when  and  the 
place  whSre  I  was  born,  and  the  fact  that  I  am  engaged  in  Commercial  pur 
suits.  Cut  out  likewise  the  tremendous  puff  about  my  style  being  Milton 
and  Addison  fused  together. 

I  have  seen  [H:  Norman]  Hudson  and  will  send  you  in  a  day  or  two 
some  extracts  from  his  lectures  and  marked  extracts  from  his  articles.  Give 
him  a  fine  notice.  Speak  of  his  mind  as  singularly  keen,  penetrating,  pow 
erful  and  brilliant,  with  a  corresponding  sharpness  and  strength  of  expres 
sion.  Eefer  to  his  fluency  in  apt  illustration,  fanciful,  satirical  and  humor 
ous.  Say  that  his  lectures  on  Shakespeare  are  great  both  as  specimens  of 
splendid  composition  and  [of]  exhausting  analysis.  Refer  particularly  to  his 
analyses  of  characters — especially,  Lear,  lago,  Macbeth,  Othello  and  Des- 
demona  which  are  really  the  greatest  extant  on  those  distinguished  persons. 

Mr.  Dana  has  the  highest  possible  opinion  of  Hudson  and  his  writings. 
Don't  put  in  anything  about  "  cribbing,"  because  it  is  not  the  fact.  Dana, 
who  has  gone  over  the  ground,  don't  think  so,— neither  do  I.  The  only 
things  he  has  published  are  an  article  on  Education  in  the  Democratic  Re 
view  for  May  and  July  1845,— one  on  Reading  in  the  Whig  Review  for  May, 
'45,  and  on  Festus  in  the  Whig  Review  for  Jan'y  and  Feb'y  1847.  You  don't 
know  what  a  splendid  fellow  Hudson  is, — somewhat  crabbed  and  individual, 
but  a  regular  b'hoy  of  letters  for  all  that. 

I  am  glad  to  hear  that  you  are  well.  I  am  sorry  that  Duyckinck  pub 
lished  that  article  in  the  [Literary]  World.  It  is  very  one-sided  and  harsh. 
However,  you  drew  down  the  lightning  on  your  own  head  by  your  shabby- 
genteel  damnation  of  Mathews. 


BURKE  AND  WEBSTER.  229 

I  always  make  it  a  rule  never  t5  join  in  when  there  is  a  cry  of  con 
demnation  against  a  fellow  creature  and  author.  Mathews  has  not  had 
justice  done  him  and  therefore  he  is  to  be  tenderly  touched.  You  may  de 
pend  upon  it  that  his  influence  across  the  water  will  be  against  you  if  you  do 
not  modify  your  criticism  upon  him.  I  wish  you  would  take  out  some  of 
the  eulogy  on  me  and  put  it  on  to  Cornelius.  You  would  not  in  that  case 
increase  the  aggregate  of  your  praise.  I  will  write  again  as  soon  as  I  get  the 
material  from  Hudson.  Very  truly  yours, 

E.  P.  W[ hippie]. 


Boston,  April  30,  1847. 
My  dear  G. 

I  have  received  yours  of  the  27th.  I  wrote  you  the  day  before  I 
got  it  about  Hudson.  The  objection  to  your  remark  about  Burke  is  that 
though  Webster  has  more  in  him  of  the  qualities  of  a  practical  statesman, 
and  more  closeness  and  rapidity  of  argumentation,  he  cannot  be  compared 
to  Burke  in  fertility  of  intellect,  both  philosophical  and  imaginative.  Burke 
has  supplied  or  digested  the  principles,  and  a  good  portion  of  the  declama 
tion,  of  two  great  parties  in  Great  Britain.  Webster  more  resembles  Fox. 
Perhaps  his  weight  of  nature  is  greater  than  either,  and  he  may  have  greater 
possibilities  in  his  mind ;  but  he  can  only  be  compared  with  Burke  in  the 
manner  I  do  it  in  my  article  on  Webster,  viz.,  in  showing  that  the  influence 
of  Burke's  passions  and  imagination  did,  in  particular  instances,  interfere 
with  the  sobriety  of  his  understanding.  You  say  that  the  genius  of  Webster 
is  more  various.  This  is  a  mistake.  Burke's  Works  supply  more  philosoph 
ical  reflections,  more  splendid  imagery,  and  a  greater  variety  of  thoughts, 
than  those  of  any  man  since  Bacon  and  Milton.  You  are  not  so  fresh  from 
Burke  as  I  am.  I  have  had  him  on  my  table  for  the  last  five  years,  and  know 
him  through  and  through.  My  copy  is  marked  on  every  page.  Besides,  in 
any  event,  your  remark  will  be  considered  ridiculous  in  England.  .  .  In 
great  haste, 

E.  P.  W. 


Diary :  April  30.  Prof.  Allen  called  this  evening  to  invite  me  t5 
deliver  the  annual  address  at  Dickinson  College. 

Diary :  May  16.  Letter  from  Simms,  which  I  gave  to  Miss  Allen,  as 
an  autograph. 


230  J.  M.   LEGARE. 

Aiken,  May  31st,  [1847  ?]. 
My  dear  Sir : 

I  learned  your  arrival  in  Charleston  only  this  afternoon,  and  let 
me  say  how  much  pleasure  it  will  give  me  to  receive  you  here  as  a  guest. 
We  live  here  in  most  primitive  style — pretty  much  as  one  would  on  a 
maroon ;  for  this  place  is  noted  as  a  resort  for  health ;  and  residing  here  for 
the  present  with  that  end  in  view,  we  cannot  consider  it  a  home.  So  if  a 
small  room  (heartily  at  your  service  )  and  plain  enough  entertainment  will 
content  you,  I  will  endeavor  for  my  part  to  render  what  time  you  may  spare 
me  as  little  wearisome  as  possible.  Aiken  is  on  the  R-Road  terminating 
at  Augusta,  and  I  would  like  to  hear  from  you  a  day  or  two  before  you  leave 
the  city,  that  I  may  meet  you  at  the  cars,  and  avert  a  mistake  in  the  place  of 
landing  not  unusual  where  there  is  an  upper  and  a  lower  village  of  the 
same  name. 

In  hope  of  making  your  acquaintance,  my  dear  Sir,  in  person  before 
long,  I  remain  Your  ob't  servant,  etc., 

J.  M.  Legar6. 


Diary :  June  30.  In  the  street  today  met  Poe,  who  was  extremely 
civil.  .  . 

Diary :    July  6.    Letter  from  Prescott. 

Diary:  July  18  [Philadelphia].  Joseph  C.  Neal  committed  suicide 
this  morning  at  his  house  in  Seventh  Street,  near  by.  It  is  given  out  that  he 
died  of  congestion  of  the  brain. 

Diary :  Sept.  16.  Tonight  have  finished  Washington  and  the  Gener 
als  of  the  Revolution,  of  which  I  have  written  about  one  third,  for  little 
money  and  no  reputation. 

Diary :  Sept.  17.  At  Harper's  had  a  disagreeable  altercation  with 
[Spencer  W.  ]  Cone,  who  was  angry  that  Jefferson  should  be  treated  with 
disrespect,  and  reviled  Clay  as  if  he  were  a  common  cutthroat. 


Steamer  Britannia,  Off  Halifax,  Friday,  Sept.  17, 1847. 
Dear  Rufus, 

I  promised  to  write  you  from  Europe,  but  my  rapid  flight  gave 
me  no  leisure  for  correspondence.  What  I  have  seen  we  will  talk  over  some 
fine  day  at  Jones' or  elsewhere,  but  at  present  "  I  cannot  enlarge,"  as  the 
Alderman  said  to  the  Mayor.  I  have  visited  many  spots  of  great  historical 
and  literary  interest, — to  which  my  feet  made  no  unwilling  pilgrimage,  I 
assure  you.  I  have  sailed  the  Rhine  from  Cologne  to  Mayence ;  stood  at  the 


JAMES  T:  FIELDS.  231 

tombs  of  great  warriors  from  Richard  Coeur  de  Lion  to  Napoleon ;  walked 
over  Waterloo  and  Runnymede ;  loitered  at  Pere  la  Chaise ;  mused  at  Abbots- 
ford  and  Newstead  ;  talked  at  Rydal  with  Wordsworth,— at  "  Our  Village" 
with  Miss  Mitford, — in  his  sanctum  with  Christopher  North,  who  by  the  way 
mentioned  your  Poets  of  America  as  a  Book  on  his  shelves  and  one  which  he 
loved  to  read ;  you  will  see  by  the  enumeration  from  my  catalogue  that  I  was 
not  idle  during  my  sojourn  in  distant  lands.  I  have  escaped  by  the  good 
blessing  of  God  a  death  at  Sea ;  the  account  of  our  disaster  you  will  read  in 
the  papers.  It  was  a  slight  thread  to  hang  a  ship's  company's  lives  upon, 
but  the  time  had  not  come  for  us  to  make  our  departure  from  the  lower 
world.  It  is  a  terrible  experience,  that  of  seeing  two  hundred  souls  fearfully 
looking  out  upon  a  rocky  shore  uncertain  of  the  issue. 

I  write  this  hasty  line  that  you  may  see  I  have  not  forgotten  you.  We 
will  no  doubt  meet  before  long  either  in  Philadelphia  or  Boston,  where  we 
will  talk  things  over.  I  come  home  with  every  wish  gratified  as  far  as  relates 
to  those  countries  I  have  visited,  and  with  a  firm  conviction  that  where  our 
lines  are  cast  thSre  blessings  most  abound.  America  is  the  world's  picked 
garden  and  I  thank  Heaven  I  am  5ne  of  her  sons  and 

Your  old  friend,  always  most  truly, 

James  T.  Fields. 


Diary :    Sept.  24.    Met  Headley  in  the  street.    He  is  angry  at  a  review 
I  printed  in  the  Literary  World  of  his  Washington  and  his  Generals. 


Philadelphia,  Oct.  13, 1847. 
Dear  Sir, 

Your  favor  of  the  llth  duly  received  with  list  of  Contributors  to 
"  Washington  and  His  Generals  "  which  leaves  you  only  96  pages  (  provided 
you  are  not  the  author  of  the  Essay  on  "  Washington  "  )  for  $75. — but  as  you 
have  had,  we  acknowledge,  a  great  deal  more  trouble  with  the  work  than  I 
expected,  we  will  place  to  your  credit  $150.  instead  of  $96. ;  — please  state  if 
this  is  satisfactory. 

You  have  received  from  us  in  cash  on  account  of  the  96  pages  $75., 
leaving  a  balance  of  $75.  to  your  credit.  We  have  also  credited  you  with 
$93.75  for  the  second  edition  (1,000)  of  Prose  Writers  of  America— one  half 
of  which,  say  500  copies,  were  sent  t5  England,  on  which  you  were  to  receive 
$31.25  copyright,  and  on  the  500  for  sale  in  this  country,  $62.50.  .  . 

Yours  respectfully, 

A.  S.  Hart. 


232  THE  HEADLEY  CONTROVERSY. 

The  article  mentiond  was  reprinted  in  The  Tribune,  29th 
October,  as  by  R.  W.  G-riswold ;  this  would  seem  to  settle 
the  question  of  authorship. 


Diary :  Oct.  16.  Converse  with  [  Gen.  Edmund  Pendleton  ]  Gaines 
after  dinner.  He  says  he  was  70  last  March,  and  that  he  first  knew  Jefferson 
in  1804,  when  he  was  a  subaltern.  ( Query :  was  J.  his  father?  )  He  devotes 
the  evening  to  me,  giving  many  entertaining  reminiscences  of  his  life  and 
opinions.  Mrs.  G.  says  she  governs  him  easily  in  domestic  affairs. 

Diary :  Nov.  2.  Did  not  go  down  town.  About  3  o'clock  Briggs 
came  up  and  told  me  of  Headley's  attack  upon  Hoffman  and  me  in  the 
C[ourier]  &  Enquirer. 

Diary :  Nov.  3.  Hoffman  replies  to  Headley  this  morning,  and  I  have 
left  a  reply  to  him  at  the  Courier  office. 

Diary :  Nov.  5.  Headley  attacks  me  in  the  Courier,  which  refuses  t5 
print  my  reply,  and  I  carry  it  to  Greeley. 

Diary :  Nov.  8.  Meet  at  Hoffman's  Mr.  Thompson,  the  new  editor  of 
the  Southern  Literary  Messenger. 


Philadelphia,  Nov.  10, 1847. 
Dear  Sir : 

Headley  could  not  have  done  our  book  more  service  if  he  had 
tried  than  by  the  stir  his  communications  have  made  in  the  sale  of  it. 

Your  letter  in  the  Tribune  was  well  written  and  to  the  point — we  learn 
he  will  make  a  further  attack  on  us  tomorrow.  .  .  Yours  etc., 

A.  S.  Hart. 


Diary:  Nov.  11.  J.  T.  H.  again  in  the  Courier  &  Enquirer.  .  .  Pass 
an  hour  with  Prof.  Bush,  with  whom  I  discuss  the  whole  subject  of  the 
Headley  controvery,  and  he  proposes  very  kindly  a  card  with  the  names  of 
several  of  my  old  acquaintances.  After  dinner  Senator  Folsom  speaks  to  me 
of  the  subject  in  a  very  kindly  manner. 

Diary :  Nov.  12.  The  Headley  controversy  continues,  but  I  am  no 
longer  alluded  to  in  it. 


Philadelphia,  Nov.  24, 1847. 
My  Dear  Sir : 

Pray  what  think  you  of  the  way  Mr.  Headley  and  his  publishers 
have  been  shown  up?  ...  Yours  truly, 

Carey  &  Hart. 


MRS.  ELIZABETH   ELLET. 


Yours  of  yesterday  just  rec'd.    Send  on  the  Review;  we  will  try  to 
get  it  in  the  N.  American  even  if  we  pay  for  it.— C.  &  H. 


Diary:  Nov.  30.  ...  Met  S.  S.  Phelps  [Senator  from  Vermont] 
who  advises  me  to  turn  politician.  He  regrets  that  he  did  not  denounce  the 
Mexican  war  in  the  Senate. 


Boston,  January  6, 1848. 
My  dear  Griswold, 

.  .  .  The  only  answer  he  vouchsafes  is,  that  he  made  the  engage 
ment  with  Mrs.  Ellet  before  the  book  was  published,  and  before  she  could 
see  what  was  said  in  it  about  herself.  It  is  all  nonsense  to  pretend  t5  do 
anything  with  Bowen  when  his  mind  is  once  fixed.  It  is  like  trying  to  puff 
back  a  hurricane  with  the  breath  of  human  nostrils  .  .  .  Besides  I  don't  be 
lieve  the  lady  will  do  any  intentional  injustice  to  any  of  you  .  .  .  However 
much  she  may  dissent  from  your  opinions,  she  cannot  help  acknowledging 
that  you  have,  in  the  mere  collection  of  the  matter,  aud  the  making  out  of 
the  biographies,  done  what  nobody  else  would  have  had  patience  or  ability 
to  do.  You  may  depend  upon  it,  also,  that  Bowen  will  not  allow  any  clique 
injustice  to  be  perpetrated  in  his  Review. 

I  am  sorry  to  find  that  you  and  the  New-Yorkers  are  on  such  bad 
terms  with  Mrs.  Ellet.  I  always  thought  that  she  was  considered  by  you  all 
a  lady  of  great  ability,  acquirements,  and  excellence.  The  truth  is,  I  have 
no  patience  with  the  New  York  literati.  They  are  all  the  time  quarreling 
with  each  other.  Why  not  kiss  and  be  friends?  You  have  a  precious  lot  of 
feuds  on  your  own  hands.  A  plague  on  both  your  houses,  say  I.  .  . 

I  am  glad  you  like  the  Essays  and  Reviews.  I  see  that  they  are  begin 
ning  to  blackguard  me  in  New-York ;  and  in  Phil'a,  I  have  been  treated  very 
shabbily.  They  seem  to  be  apprehensive  that  the  book  may  prove  interest 
ing  to  the  public.  .  . 

E.  P.  W[ hippie]. 

Concord,  May  19, 1848. 
My  friend  Greeley, 

I  received  from  you  fifty  dollars  to-day. 

For  the  last  five  years  I  have  supported  myself  solely  by  the  labor  of 
my  hands.  I  have  not  received  one  cent  from  any  other  source,  and  this 
has  cost  me  so  little  time,  say  a  month  in  the  spring  and  another  in  the 
autumn,  doing  the  coarsest  work  of  all  kinds,  that  I  have  probably  enjoyed 


234  H:  D:  THOREAU. 

more  leisure  for  literary  pursuits  than  any  contemporary.  For  more  than 
two  years  past  I  have  lived  alone  in  the  woods,  in  a  good  plastered  and 
shingled  house  entirely  of  my  own  building,  earning  only  what  I  wanted  and 
sticking  to  my  proper  work.  The  fact  is  man  need  not  live  by  the  sweat  of 
his  brow — unless  he  sweats  easier  than  I  do — he  needs  so  little.  For  two 
years  and  two  mouths  all  my  expenses  have  amounted  to  but  27  cents  a 
week,  and  I  have  fared  gloriously  in  all  respects.  If  a  man  must  have 
money — and  he  needs  but  the  smallest  amount,  the  true  and  independent  way 
to  earn  it  is  by  day  labor  with  his  hands  at  a  dollar  a  day — I  have  tried  many 
ways  and  can  speak  from  experience.  Scholars  are  apt  to  think  themselves 
privileged  to  complain  as  if  their  lot  was  a  peculiarly  hard  one.  How  much 
have  we  heard  about  the  attainment  of  knowledge  under  difficulties,  of  poets 
starving  in  garrets — depending  on  the  patronage  of  the  wealthy — and  finally 
dying  mad.  It  is  time  men  sang  another  song.  There  is  no  reason  why  the 
scholar  who  professes  to  be  a  little  wiser  than  the  mass  of  men,  should  not 
do  his  work  in  the  ditch  occasionally,  and  by  means  of  his  superior  wisdom 
make  much  less  suffice  for  him.  A  wise  man  will  not  be  unfortunate.  How 
then  would  you  know  but  he  was  a  fool  ? 

This  money  therefore  comes  as  a  free  and  even  unexpected  gift  to  me. 

My  Friend  Greeley,  I  know  not  how  to  thank  you  for  your  kindness — 
to  thank  you  is  not  the  way— I  can  only  assure  you  that  I  see  and  appreciate 
it.  To  think  that  while  I  have  been  sitting  comparatively  idle  here,  you 
have  been  so  active  in  my  behalf ! 

You  have  done  well  for  me.  I  only  wish  it  had  been  in  a  better  cause, 
yet  the  value  of  good  deeds  is  not  affected  by  the  unworthiness  of  their 
object.  Yes,  that  was  the  right  way,  but  who  would  ever  have  thought  of 
it?  I  think  it  might  not  have  occurred  even  to  somewhat  of  a  business  man. 
I  am  not  one  in  the  common  sense  at  all,  that  is  I  am  not  acquainted  with  the 
forms, — I  might  have  waylaid  him  perhaps.  I  perceive  that  your  way  has 
this  advantage  too,  that  he  who  draws  the  draft  determines  the  amount 
which  it  is  drawn  for.  You  prized  it  [  word  illegible  ]  that  was  the  exact 
amount. 

If  more  convenient,  the  Maine  article  might  be  printed  in  the  form  of 
letters ;  you  have  only  to  leave  off  at  the  end  of  a  day,  and  put  the  date  be 
fore  the  next  one.  I  shall  certainly  be  satisfied  to  receive  $25.00  for  it— that 
was  all  I  expected  if  you  took  it— but  I  do  not  by  any  means  consider  you 
bound  to  pay  me  that,  the  article  not  being  what  you  asked  for,  and  being 
sent  after  so  long  a  delay.  You  shall  therefore,  if  you  take  it,  send  me  25 


WHIPPLE  AND  FIELDS.  235 

dollars  now,  or  when  you  have  disposed  of  it,  whichever  is  most  conven 
ient — that  is;  after  deducting  the  necessary  expenses  which  I  perceived  you 
must  have  incurred.  This  is  all  I  ask  for  it. 

The  carrier  it  is  commonly  who  makes  the  money.  I  am  concerned  to 
see  that  you  as  carrier  make  nothing  at  all,  but  are  in  danger  of  losing  a 
good  deal  of  your  time  as  well  as  some  of  your  money. 

So  I  got  off— or  rather  so  I  am  compelled  to  go  off— muttering  my  in 
effectual  thanks.  But  believe  me,  my  Friend,  the  gratification  which  your 
letter  affords  me  is  not  wholly  selfish. 

Trusting  that  my  good  genius  will  continue  to  protect  me  on  this 
accession  of  wealth,  I  remain  Yours, 

Henry  Thoreau. 

P.  S.  My  book  is  swelling  again  under  my  hands,  but  as  soon  as  I 
have  leisure  I  shall  see  t5  those  shorter  articles,  so  look  out. 


Boston,  June  1, 1848. 
My  dear  Rufus, 

Whipple  has  done  the  thing  in  a  most  brown  and  beautiful 
manner.  The  package  contains  the  whole  matter  and  we  hope  it  will  please 
you.  Don't  lose  the  document,  Eufus,  for  I  cannot  put  my  hands  on  the 
verses  again  if  you  should  mislay  them  after  your  usual  careless  style.  You 
know  your  weakness,  my  dear  Doctor,  and  I  am  not  afraid  to  tell  you  so  to 
your  head  that  your  papers  lie  strewd  about  your  den  like  Yallombrosa's 
Leaves,  only  a  great  deal  more  so.  .  . 

You  should  see  Whipple's  boy.  The  little  rascal  daily  peruses  a  back 
volume  of  the  Edinburgh  Keview,  and  a  day  or  two  since  got  aground  on  a 
Macaulay  paper.  He  is  a  rare  youth  and  bids  fair  to  rival  his  father  in  the 
literary  world.  .  . 

Mrs.  Haven's  Coffee  Room  is  swept  and  garnished.  Will  you  drop  in 
some  day,  not  distant,  and  imbibe  her  smoking  beverage  as  it  comes  reeking 
by  the  hand  of  a  maiden  unrivalled  out  of  Paradise? 

Always  most  truly  yours, 

J.  T.  F[ields]. 


Referring   to   the   Whig   nomination   for  the   presidency  in 
1848  Greeley  wrote  in  his  autobiography  as  folloes  : — 

I  non-concurred  in  this  view,  most  decidedly.    General  Taylor, 
though  an  excellent  soldier,  had  no  experience  as  a  statesman,  and  his 


236  ZACHARY  TAYLOR. 

capacity  for  civil  administration  was  wholly  undemonstrated.  He  had  never 
voted;  had,  apparently,  paid  little  attention  to,  and  taken  little  interest  in 
politics ;  and,  though  inclined  toward  the  Whig  party,  was  but  slightly  ident 
ified  with  its  ideas  and  its  efforts.  Nobody  could  say  what  were  his  views 
regarding  Protection,  Internal  Improvement,  or  the  Currency.  On  the 
great  question— which  our  vast  acquisitions  from  Mexico  had  suddenly  in 
vested  with  the  gravest  importance — of  excluding  Slavery  from  the  yet 
untainted  Federal  Territories,  he  had  nowise  declared  himself;  and  the  fact 
that  he  was  an  extensive  slave-holder  justified  a  presumption  that  he,  like 
most  slave-holders,  deemed  it  right  that  any  settler  in  the  Territories  should 
be  at  liberty  to  take  thither,  and  hold  there  as  property,  whatever  the  laws 
of  his  own  State  recognized  as  property.  We  desired  to  "take  a  bond  of 
fate"  that  this  view  should  not  be  held  by  a  Whig  President,  at  all  events.  .  . 
In-  the  event,  I  think  the  anticipations  of  those  who  had  favored  and 
those  who  had  opposed  General  Taylor's  nomination  .  .  .  were  both  realized. 
He  proved  an  honest,  wise,  and  fearless  public  servant, — true  to  his  convic 
tions,  but  yielding  all  proper  fealty  and  deference  to  those  whose  votes  had 
placed  him  in  the  White  House.  None  more  keenly  regretted  his  sudden, 
untimely  death, — which  occurred  on  the  9th  of  July,  1850,  after  he  had  been 
sixteen  months  President— than  those  who  had  most  strenuously  resisted  his 
nomination.  .  .  He  was  a  man  of  little  education  or  literary  culture,  but  of  sig 
nal  good  sense,  coolness,  and  freedom  from  prejudice.  Few  trained  and 
polished  statesmen  have  proved  fitter  depositaries  of  civil  power  than  this 
rough  old  soldier,  whose  life  had  been  largely  passed  in  camp  and  bivouac, 
on  the  rude  outskirts  of  civilization,  or  in  savage  wastes  far  beyond  it.  Gen 
eral  Taylor  died  too  soon  for  his  country's  good,  but  not  till  he  had  proved 
himself  a  wise  and  good  ruler,  if  not  even  a  great  one. 

Clay  himself  wrote  :  "  Magnaminity  is  a  noble  virtue,  and  I 
have  always  endeavored  t6  practise  it ;  but  it  has  its  limits,  and 
the  line  of  demarcation  between  it  and  meanness  is  not  always 
discernible.  .  .  I  think  my  friends  ought  t6  leave  me  quiet  and 
undisturbed  in  my  retirement.  My  race  is  run.  During  the 
short  time  that  remains  t6  me  in  this  world  I  desire  t6  preserve 
untarnished  that  character  which  so  many  have  done  me  the 
honor  t6  respect  and  esteem." 


THOMAS  COR  WIN.  237 

Washington,  July  20.  1848. 
Dear  Sir  [Greeley]: 

I  have  not  made  my  first  speech  for  Taylor.  I  have  not  imag 
ined  it.  I  listen  to  all  that  can  be  said,  and  is  said,  of  that  sort,  but  I  hear  of 
nothing,  think  of  nothing,  by  which  I  could  move  the  heads  or  hearts  of  my 
sincere,  sensible  friends  in  Ohio.  Yet  I  feel  that  Taylor  is  better  than  Cass, 
a  parallel  after  the  manner  of  Plutarch  (which  you  can  draw  better  than  I) 
must  be  my  apology  for  preferring  the  rude,  ignorant,  honest  soldier  to  the 
swindling  demagogue,— the  hollow,  heartless,  dishonest  humbug,— Cass. 
ThSre  is  in  Taylor  something  positive  (I  speak  not  of  his  writings,  episto 
lary  or  other),  but  he  is  a  man  who  can  do,  has  done  a  thing.  He  did  fight 
and  kill  men,  and  with  a  sort  of  infernal  manliness,  he  did  go  right  on  from 
Palo  Alto  to  Buena  Vista.  He  has  a  will,  badly  educated,  'tis  true,  and 
from  his  Bulldog  defence  of  Ft.  Harrison  to  his  insane  fight  at  Buena  Vista, 
he  seems  to  have  resolved  within,  to  his  own  mind,  "  Thy  work  is  given  to 
Zachary  Taylor  to  do — it  seems  the  duty  of  Zachary  Taylor  to  do  this,  and  it 
shall  be  done."  Now,  instruct  such  a  man,  and  he  would  do  glorious  good 
work  in  his  day. 

But  what  can  you  make  of  such  a  miserable  rogue  as  Cass, — no  con 
science,  no  sentiment  even,  which  he  would  not  sacrifice  for  a  puffin  your 
Tribune  as  long  as  his  finger.  What  can  we  do !  I  ask  you  what  can  we  do 
else?  Can  we  take  Martin  Van  Buren?  He  the  representative  of  a  great 
principle !  !  !  Is  not  this  hypothesis  a  phenomenon  to  be  wondered  at,  to  be 
astonished  at?  How  or  when  or  where  did  he  stand  fire,  wh6re  great  prin 
ciples  fought  against  temporary  party  expediencies?  Has  he  repented  of 
his  ways !  It  is  possible !  But  has  he  brought  forth  fruits  meet  for  repent 
ance!  !  Not  yet,  till  now,  that  I  have  seen.  And  shrewd  men  suggest  re 
venge  as  his  motive.  I  doubt,  and  so  (  as  to  him )  am  damned.  Again  I 
ask  what  can  we  do  but  take  a  nominal  Whig,  trusting  somewhat  to  Whig 
affinities,  Whig  associations,  and  even  antipathies  to  Loco-focoism. 

Elder  Eoot  is  yet  in  the  gall  of  bitterness.  "Achilles  remains  in  his 
tent.  He  will  not  fight  for  Agamemnon,  nor  yet  will  he  join  the  Trojan 
Host."  I  fear  he  will  plunge  in  his  madness  into  more  abolitionism.  His 
good  heart  and  manly  sense  are  my  hope  of  him.  The  rights  of  the  Hudson 
Bay  Co.  are  to  be  looked  to,  as  at  present  advised.  I  am  not  sure  they  may 
not  be  bought  of  that  corporation.  A  treaty  would  be  the  natural  and  easy 
way  to  do  this;  I  have  no  fears  of  collision  with  England,  unless  Cass  or 
such  as  he  get  power,  and  will  fear  to  do  right  with  England.  In  sorrow 
and  truth  I  am  Your  friend, 

Tho.  Corwin. 


238  HENRY  CLAY. 

Ashland,  21st  Sept.,  1848. 
My  dear  Sir  [  Greeley  ]  : 

Mr.  Stevenson  of  Cincinnati  addressed  a  letter  to  you  ( of  which 
he  sent  me  a  copy  )  which  I  should  be  glad  might  appear  in  the  Tribune,  if 
you  see  no  sufficient  objection  against  it.  It  serves  to  sustain  the  grounds  on 
which  I  was  induced  to  consent  to  the  submission  of  my  name  to  the  Phila 
delphia  Convention,  and  that  is  a  point  about  which  I  feel  some  solicitude. 

I  regret  the  movements  made  to  bring  out  my  name  as  a  Candidate, 
both  on  my  own  account  and  that  of  my  friends  who  made  them.  I  do  not 
think  that  they  can  effect  any  good.  After  the  nomination  of  the  Convention 
there  was  but  5ne  alternative  for  me,  either  to  show  that  it  was  not  the 
result  of  the  "  fair  and  full  deliberations  "  of  the  Convention,  or  to  acquiesce. 
Whatever  I  might  have  believed,  I  could  not  establish  the  first,  and  there 
fore  felt  that  I  ought  to  submit.  I  have  accordingly  quietly  submitted,  rig- 
ously  abstaining  from  giving  to  any  person,  on  any  occasion,  the  least 
encouragement  to  the  further  use  of  my  name.  But  I  felt  no  obligation  to 
go  any  farther.  Both  honor  and  self-respect  forbade  that  I  should  come  out 
in  the  active  support  of  a  Candidate,  who,  in  a  reversal  of  conditions,  had 
avowed  his  determination  to  oppose  me. 

As  to  what  the  Louisiana  delegation  said  and  did  there  is  a  mystery 
about  their  conduct  which  has  never  been  unravelled.  Why  has  the  letter 
which  one  of  them  asserted  he  had  from  Genl.  T[aylor]  never  been  pub 
lished  ?  Why  was  that  withheld  from  the  public  which  was  addressed  to 
the  Independent  party  of  Maryland?  His  approval  of  what  that  delegation 
did,  after  he  secured  the  nomination,  was  playing  the  safe  game  of  "  Heads 
I  win,  tails  you  lose." 

Under  this  view,  I  feel  no  obligation  to  step  forth  as  an  active  partizan 
of  Genl.  Taylor.  If  I  saw  in  his  election  greater  good  than  I  do,  I  might 
suppress  all  sense  of  private  wrong,  and  appear  openly  in  his  support.  But 
besides  the  military  objection,  I  fear  that  his  success  may  lead  to  the  forma 
tion  of  a  mere  personal  party. 

I  have  written  an  answer  to  a  letter  from  the  Executive  Committee  of 
the  Whig  D.  Committee  of  N.  York,  expressing  in  strong  terms  my  disin 
clination  to  the  further  use  of  my  name  as  a  Candidate. 

I  feel  most  sensibly  for  my  friends  wh5  made  the  Vauxhall  movement. 
Would  it  not  be  their  best  course  to  discontinue  the  use  of  my  name,  upon 
the  ground  that  I  am  unwilling  to  be  placed  in  that  attitude? 

What  is  to  be  the  issue  of  the  contest?    I  now  think. that  Taylor  will 


ALICE  GARY.  239 

get  the  Whig  States  of  N.  England,  and  that  if  he  obtains  the  vote  of  Ohio 
he  will  be  elected.  The  contradictory  accounts  from  the  latter  State  render 
it  difficult  to  judge;  but  it  is  favorable  for  him  there  that  the  election  for 
Governor  first  comes  on.  I  am  ever  truly,  Your  friend, 

H.  Clay. 


Lowell,  Mass.,  July  20th,  1848. 
Eev.  Rufus  W.  Griswold,  N.  Y.,  My  dear  Sir. 

I  take  the  liberty  of  an  old  New  York  acquaintance  to  address 
you  on  a  matter  of  business  which  may  be  worth  your  attention. 

Messrs.  Merrill  &  Hey  wood,  publishers  of  good  standing  in  this  city, 
wish  to  publish  a  work  t5  be  called  the  "  Poets  and  Poetry  of  Massachu 
setts  "  and  have  had  such  a  work  compiled  by  a  young  man  of  no  particular 
literary  reputation.  They  would  be  glad  to  have  your  distinguished  name 
in  the  title  page  of  the  book,  if  it  should  be  compatible  with  your  other 
duties  to  give  the  matter  attention.  The  Manuscript  being  furnished,  would 
you,  after  giving  it  your  supervision,  permit  your  name  to  be  used  in  the 
title  page  and  at  what  price?  ...  I  remain  as  ever  Your  friend, 

Charles  J.  Gillis. 


July  3, 1848. 
Mr.  Griswold : 

It  gives  me  great  pleasure  to  comply  with  the  request  of  your 
very  obliging  letter  by  placing  at  your  disposal  the  poems  in  your  posses 
sion.  I  have  also  taken  the  liberty  of  sending  you  some  other  specimens, 
which,  to  quote  Willis,  I  prefer  to  remember  as  my  own.  Not  that  I  wish  t5 
press  for  the  admission  of  a  larger  number,  or  dictate  to  your  better  judg 
ment,  but  that  you  may  have  an  ampler  field  from  wbich  to  select.  Should 
you  elsewhere  meet  with  anything  from  either  of  our  pens  in  time  to  serve 
you,  it  will  be  at  your  disposal. 

With  regard  to  the  prefatory  notes  I  have  only  to  say  that  we  are  sis 
ters,  and  were  born  in  a  pretty  and  secluded  district  in  the  vicinity  of 
Cincinnati,  where  we  still  live. 

Our  educational  attainments  are  limited  to  the  meagre  and  infrequent 
advantages  of  an  obscure  district  school  whence  we  were  removed  altogether 
at  a  very  early  age.  With  nothing  from  which  t5  draw  but  our  own  hearts, 
subjected  to  the  toils  and  privations  of  poverty  and  orphanage,  with  neither 
books  nor  literary  friends  t5  encourage  our  predilections,  we  have  been,  and 
still  are,  humble-worshippers  of  the  glorious  Temple  of  Song. 


240  LOWELL  AND  PAGE. 

We  write  with  great  facility,  often  producing  two  or  three  poems  in 
a  day,  and  never  elaborate.  Very  Kespectfully, 

Alice  Gary. 

P.  S.— Permit  me  to  add  a  word  with  reference  to  publishing  our 
poems  in  a  collected  form.  We  have  some  three  hundred  and  fifty,  exclu 
sive  of  our  early  productions,  which  those  in  your  possession,  as  to  length 
and  abiMty,  fairly  represent. 

I  think  they  would  make  a  readable  book,  and  our  circumstances  urge 
their  publication  if  it  would  be  in  the  least  to  our  pecuniary  advantage.  We 
can  engage  fifteen  hundred  or  two  thousand  copies.  Would  you  engage  to 
publish  the  work  on  your  own  terms? 

Be  kind  enough  to  return  the  poems  I  send  you,  when  they  shall  have 
served  your  purpose,  as  I  have  no  other  copies.  Those  you  have  collected 
are,  I  fear,  marred  with  typographical  errors. 

A.  C. 


August  6, 1848. 
My  dear  Sir, 

Lowell  arrived  in  town  this  morning  and  will  remain  until  next 
Monday;  I  told  him  that  I  had  engaged  him  to  dine  with  you  but  that  I  did 
not  know  whether  you  were  in  town  or  not ;  as  he  will  be  on  the  run  nearly 
all  the  time  that  he  is  here,  if  you  will  let  me  know  when  you  can  meet  him 
I  will  try  to  catch  him  for  you.  He  is  not  stopping  at  any  particular  place, 
as  he  has  a  brother  at  Newark  and  friends  in  Staten  Island,  he  will  be  some 
times  at  one  place  and  sometimes  at  another.  Do  me  the  favor  not  to  make 
allusion  to  the  poem,  or  satire  [A  Fable  for  Critics] ,  that  I  told  you  of  when 
you  see  him,  as  it  is,  for  the  present,  a  secret  which  he  does  not  want  known. 
I  had  forgotten  about  your  Broadway  sketches,  and  now  that  I  think 
of  it  I  do  not  think  that  there  is  enough  of  me  to  make  a  figure  in  such  a 
series.  I  have  not  the  least  objection  to  sitting  to  you  for  my  portrait,  nor 
to  your  displaying  me  in  your  collection  of  Curiosities,  but  I  do  not  see  that 
there  is  anything  about  me  worth  making  a  note  of.  As  my  only  intimate 
friends  are  Page  and  Lowell,  and  as  you  will  see  us  together  in  Broadway, 
perhaps  you  might  sandwich  me  between  my  two  illustrious  companions, 
and  I  should  be  better  remembered  for  being  served  up  with  them.  Lowell 
you  know  all  about,  and  I  regret  that  you  do  not  know  more  about  Page, 
for  he  is  the  kind  of  person,  I  think,  that  you  would  be  likely  to  reverence. 
Page  is  a  native  of  Albany,  he  has  lived  the  greater  part  of  his  life  in  New 
York,  and  has  never  been  abroad.  He  was  a  pupil  of  Morse's  and  early  dis- 


CHARLES  F.   BRIGGS.  241 

tinguished  himself  by  the  correctness  of  his  drawings  and  the  richness  of  his 
coloring.  He  became  popular  at  once  when  his  portraits  were  first  exhibited 
and  has  continued  to  impr5ve  in  his  manner,  never  remaining  long  in  the 
same  stage;  he  is  a  devoted  student  of  his  art,  works  hard,  reads  a  good 
deal,  and  impresses  all  his  works  with  the  elevated  tone  of  his  own  mind; 
hence  his  portraits  all  have  an  air  of  historic  dignity  which  is  seen  in  the 
portraits  of  Van  Dyke  and  Titian.  He  is  not  a  mannerist.  He  has  painted 
several  historical  pieces,  and  has  a  strong  tendency  to  represent  scriptural 
subjects.  He  has  painted  an  Ecce  Homo,  now  in  the  possession  of  Henry 
Caygill,  Esq.,  of  this  City,  a  Holy  Family  in  the  Boston  Athenseum;  a  very 
large  composition,  still  unfinished,  of  Jeptha's  Daughter,  a  Ruth  and  Naomi, 
a  St.  John,  and  other  scriptural  subjects.  The  solemnity  and  earnestness  of 
Old  Testament  subjects  seem  peculiarly  genial  to  his  feelings.  He  is  an  ad 
mirable  talker,  and  ever  ready  to  assist  or  instruct  the  tyro  of  art  who  seeks 
his  instruction;  but  he  is  averse  to  general  society,  and  is  rarely  seen  in  the 
company  of  artists.  All  the  rest  you  know. 

As  for  me,  I  was  not  regularly  bred  to  the  trade  of  authorship,  al 
though  I  have  always  indulged  "  on  the  sly,"  but  as  my  early  occupations 
were  mercantile  I  carefully  hid  all  my  literary  efforts  so  effectually  under  a 
bushel  that  I  could  not  lay  my  hand  on  the  half  of  them  if  I  were  desirous  of 
doing  so,  as  I  am  not.  The  first  book  I  published  was  "  Harry  Franco," 
which  brought  me  so  many  invitations  to  write,  that,  happening  to  undergo 
a  revolution  in  my  business  affairs,  I  was  induced  to  try  my  luck  at  making 
my  sustenance  through  a  quill  and  have  succeeded,  so  far  as  the  sustenance 
goes.  Poe  said,  in  his  absurd  sketch  of  me,  that  "  Harry  Franco  "  was  pub 
lished  in  the  Knickerbocker,  but  not  a  line  of  it  was  ever  published  in  that 
Magazine.  The  book  sold  well,  and  was  well  enough  received,  but  really  I 
do  not  think  it  has  merit  enough  to  deserve  any  particular  notice.  Since 
then  I  have  written  a  great  number  of  Magazine  articles,  some  of  which  have 
appeared  with  my  name,  but  the  greater  part  without.  I  published  the 
"  Haunted  Merchant,"  and  a  little  book  for  Young  Travellers  called  "  Life  in 
a  Liner,  or  Working  a  Passage."  This  little  opuscule  was  very  popular,  and 
a  good  many  editions  of  it  have  been  sold.  I  don't  know  how  many,  nor 
who,  at  present,  is  the  owner  of  it.  I  believe  that  these  are  all  the  books 
that  I  care  to  name,  unless  the  letter  in  answer  to  John  Campbell,  which 
was  published  by  the  Copyright  Club,  be  worth  noticing.  This  latter  trifle  I 
would  like  to  have  alluded  to,  if  you  say  anything  at  all  about  me,  because 
the  Centurion  [Mathews]  has  contrived  to  monopolise  all  the  credit  of  that 


242  THE  COPYRIGHT  CLUB. 

Copyright  Club  business,  when,  in  fact,  I  did,  myself,  get  up  the  Club, 
organized  it  [  23  Aug.  1843]  and  kept  it  going  until  I  saw  that  the  Centurion 
was  bringing  disgrace  upon  it,  and  then  I  abandoned  it.  The  history  of  this 
business  is  rather  funny.  1  had  invitations  sent  to  a  few  individuals  request 
ing  them  to  meet  at  the  Athenaeum  Hotel  to  form  a  club  for  the  purpose  of 
promoting  an  international  copyright  act;  when  we  met  there  were  only 
Hoffman,  Mathews,  Duyckinck,  and  myself  present.  I  proposed  Hoffman 
for  chairman,  D.  for  recording  sec'y  and  M[athewsJ  for  corresponding 
sec'y ;  a  treasurer  was  wanted  and  I  proposed  Bradford  for  that  office,  and 
so  the  club  was  formed.  We  afterwards  had  some  very  good  meetings  at 
the  Athenaeum,  Bryant  consented  to  act  as  President,  and  had  it  not  been 
for  the  ridicule  brought  upon  the  affair  by  the  monkey  shines  of  Little  Man 
hattan  [Mathews] ,  I  believe  that  before  this  an  international  Copyright  law 
would  have  been  passed.  You  know  all  the  rest.  By  the  way,  as  to  my 
nativity,  I  am  a  Yankee  like  yourself,  and  if  my  ancestors  did  not  come  over 
in  the  Mayflower  they  did  in  the  very  next  ship. 
,  Yery  truly,  your  friend  and  obedient  servant, 

Chas.  F.  Briggs. 

P.  S. — To  enable  you  to  say  that  you  encountered  Page,  Lowell  and 
myself  in  Broadway,  suppose  that  you  invite  him  to  come  with  L.  ? 


Boston,  Aug.  15, 1848. 
My  Dear  Rufus, 

I  should  have  answered  your  letter  long  ago  had  I  been  at  home 
to  do  so.  My  mother  has  been  and  is  now  very  ill  at  Portsmouth  where  I 
have  been  for  many  days  at  her  bedside.  She  is  now,  thank  God,  more 
comfortable,  and  may  yet  be  spared  to  us  longer. 

I  heartily  approve  your  Female  Poets  plan.  Your  names  are  good,  all 
of  them.  Touching  the  doubtful  ones  I  should,  I  think,  retain  Mrs.  Mowatt 
and  Jane  Lomax.  Of  W.  (?)  Allen  I  know  nothing.  She  is  a  woman  of 
stamina  I  judge  from  her  "Leip  (  ?)." 

I  have  some  beautiful  poems  by  me  by  Mrs.  Barnes  of  New-Hampshire 
which  I  will  send  you  if  it  is  not  too  late  for  their  insertion.  They  are  No. 
1,  full  of  passionate  feeling  and  eminently  worthy  of  a  place.  Let  me  hear 
from  you  at  once  and  I  will  forward  immediately  if  it  is  yet  in  season. 

Brief  let  me  be  as  the  mail  is  just  at  its  last  moment  of  Boston  exist 
ence.  God  bless  and  keep  you,  my  dear  Griswold.  Kindest  remembrances 
from  Whipple  and  all  your  friends  here.  Always  Yours, 

J.  T.  F[ields]. 


WOMEN  AUTHORS  IN  NEW   YORK.  243 

Washington,  Dec.  7, 1848. 
Friend  G. 

Seeing  in  last,  or  rather  Tuesday  evening's  Tribune,  a  decidedly 
good  *  Song,  by  H.  E.  G.  Avery,'  reminds  me  to  say  to  you  that  I  think  the 
writer  worth  thinking  of  in  any  future  collection  of  Am.  Female  Poets.  I 
think  I  cannot  be  mistaken  in  assuming  that  she  is  the  one  known  to  me  as 
Harriet  E.  Groussis,  of  Cleveland,  Ohio,  whom  I  once  met  in  that  city, 
and  who  has  written  some  remarkably  good  verses  for  The  Tribune,  mostly 
three  or  four  years  ago.  Should  you  care  to  know  anything  farther  about 
her,  please  address  J.  A.  Harris,  Ed.  Cleveland  Herald,  who  is  intimately 
acquainted  with  her.  She  is  by  trade  a  school  ma'am,  rather  well  looking 
for  a  writer  of  verses,  and  not  now  above  thirty,  I  guess. 

I  thought  you  were  going  to  send  '  The  Sacred  Poets '  to  me,  but  I  see 
it  is  very  well  noticed  in  Tuesday  Evening's  Tribune.  All  right. 

Yours, 

H.  Greeley. 

Sandusky,  O.,  Dec.  10th,  [18481. 
Dear  Dr.  Griswold : 

We  hear  nothing  more  of  les  dames  through  the  press.  Are  the 
birds  seriously  frightened?  Mrs.  E.  F.  E[llet]  has  written  to  a  friend  of 
hers  in  this  place  making  inquiry  as  to  who  I  am? — probably  mistrusting  a 
Foster :  and  asking  that  friend  if  it  were  possible  Dr.  Griswold  and  myself 
were  mutually  concerned  in  that  article?  The  friend,  being  also  my  inti 
mate,  asked  me  what  answer  she  should  make?  I  told  her  to  present  my 
compliments  to  Mrs.  E.  F.  E.  and  say  that  the  "out  West  Editor"  would 
inform  her,  in  due  time,  as  to  who  he  is  and  who  edits  the  Register.  I  sent 
the  papers  containing  that  1st  article  to  downeast  persons  and  papers  gener 
ally,  and  hear  from  it  in  various  sources  and  ways.  Rest  assured  it  has 
caused  a  flutter  among  the  birds  of  the  common  kind. 

When  in  N.  Y.  I  heard  of  Mrs.  Ellet's,  Mrs.  Ann  S.  Stephens',  [and] 
Anne  Lewis' purposes  in  regard  t5  "  writing  you  and  Alice  Cary  down" 
and  made  up  my  mind  to  catch  them  at  their  game.  The  letter  to  which  the 
Rochester  article  referred,  wherein  "  certain  imputations  were  made  against 
the  early  writers  of  N.  Y.  who  had  become  well  known  at  the  West "  had 
particular  reference  to  this  very  trio,  and  Mrs.  Ellet  probably  mistrusted  it: 
hence  her  editorial  in  the  American,  drawing  me  (?)out.  I  mistrust  the 
result  of  the  first  tilt  don't  conduce  particularly  to  her  comfort.  She  prob 
ably  will  not  answer  the  queries  propounded. 


244  MRS.   ELIZABETH  F.   ELLET. 

Why  is  it  your  new  volume  is  not  out  West?  I  have  sent  to  Cleveland 
and  Cincinnati  for  a  copy  and  the  copy  is,  not  there !  Your  publishers  are 
negligent,  I  fear.  Yours  Sincerely, 

O[rville]  J.  Victor. 


[Mrs.  EllettoGriswold.] 

Notices— which  the  Editor  of  "The  Poets"  &c.,  will  of  course 
put  into  his  own  language  :  Mrs.  Ellet's  father  was  Dr.  Win.  N.  Lummis,  a 
physician,  and  a  pupil  and  friend  of  Dr.  Benjamin  Eush,  whom  in  person  he 
strikingly  resembled.  He  resided  for  some  time  at  Woodbury,  N".  J.  (near 
Phil'a )  but  afterwards  gave  up  the  practice  of  his  profession  and  removed 
to  Sodus  Bay,  New  York,  where  he  purchased  lands,  and  spent  his  fortune 
in  improving  them.  He  was  a  scholar,  a  man  of  taste  and  refinement,  and 
one  of  the  most  highly  respected  citizens  in  that  portion  of  the  state.  He 
died  many  years  since.  His  second  wife  was  Sarah  Maxwell,  the  daughter 
of  John  Maxwell,  a  revolutionary  officer  and  the  niece  of  Brigadier  General 
William  Maxwell.  (This  Revolutionary  officer  has  been  underrated,  and 
his  services  passed  over,  in  many  historical  books.  He  served  to  within  the 
last  two  years  of  the  peace,  then  resigned  his  commission  in  displeasure  be 
cause  an  inferior  officer  was  promoted  over  him.  In  early  life  he  was  an 
officer  in  the  colonial  service,  was  at  Braddock's  defeat  and  in  other  battles. 
He  continued  in  the  army  after  the  Revolutionary  war  commenced  :  was  at 
the  storming  of  Quebec — the  battles  of  Brandywine,  Germantown,  Mon- 
mouth,  etc.,  etc.) 

Mrs.  Ellet  married  very  young  and  removed  to  South  Carolina,  where 
she  has  since  resided. 

Writings.  [  1  ]  Poems,  Translations  from  the  French  and  Italian, 
some  original.  [2]  Teresa  Contarini,  a  Tragedy  represented  with  success 
at  the  Park  Theatre  and  in  the  western  cities.  .  .  [  3  ]  Papers  in  the  Amer 
ican  Quarterly  Review  on  "  Italian  Tragedy  "— "  The  Italian  Lyric  Poets  "— 
"  Lamartine's  Poems"  and  "  Hugo's  Dramas,"  "The  Troubadours,"  "An- 
dreini's  Adam,"  etc.  [4]  "  The  Characters  of  Schiller"  ...  [5]  "Jo 
anna  of  Sicily  "...  It  may  possibly  be  worth  notice  that  the  paper  in  the 
American  Quarterly  Review  on  "  Andreini's  Adam,"  reviewed  the  Italian 
drama,  which  confessedly  gave  Milton  the  idea  of  his  Paradise  Lost.  The 
conception  of  character  in  this  drama  is  worthy  of  Milton — the  language  in 
parts  highly  poetical ;  though  its  merits  are  obscured  by  the  artificial  taste 
and  conceits  peculiar  to  the  scientisti,  as  they  were  called— the  writers  of 


H:  CAREY  BAIRD.  245 

the  17th  century).  [6]  Country  Rambles...  [7]  Some  poems  and 
tales  have  been  published  in  monthly  magazines ;  but  they  are  not  worth 
noticing.  Also  some  papers  have  been  published  in  the  North  American 
Review  and  the  Southern  Quarterly  Review,  New  Series.  [8]  The  Women 
of  the  Revolution.  .  . 

Philad'a,  Dec.  16, 1848. 
My  dear  Fellow, 

.  .  .  One  of  these  days  I  shall  be  enabled  to  write  your  "  mem 
oirs,"  and  do  you  justice,  which  is  more  than  the  world  has  ever  done  for 
you,  although  they  have  evinced  a  disposition  that  way  in  buying  nine  edi 
tions  of  "  The  Poets  of  America." 

Your  letter  indicates  that  you  must  be  exceedingly  under  the  weather 
or  under  the  "  rules  "  as  you  say  you  feel  as  though  you  had  taken  a  chapter 
of  Lippard.  I  know  how  I  should  feel  after  attempting  so  much. 

I  have  just  been  writing  an  article  which  is  to  go  into  the  no.  ol 
"Godey"  after  the  next,  entitled,  "Brig.  Gen.  Wm.  A.  Washington,  An 
Historical  Sketch,  by  Kirk  wood,"  which  I  wish  you  particularly  to  read  and 
give  your  opinion  on.  I  have  shown  it  to  Wm.  B.  Reed  who  has  pronounced 
favorably  of  it.  W.  A.  W.,  in  my  opinion,  was  a  man  whose  name  was  too 
little  known  for  the  services  he  rendered,  and  I  attempted  to  rescue  his  im 
mortal  remains  from  mortality  in  an  article  of  from  four  to  five  pages 
"  Lady's  Book."  I  am  Mr.  Griswold,  Yours  Truly, 

H.  C.  Baird. 


December  18,  1848. 
Dear  Sir : 

C[arey]  and  H[art]  sent  me  this  afternoon  a  copy  of  your 
"  Female  Poets  of  America,"  which  they  say  is  the  first  copy  which  has 
come  from  the  binder's  hands.  It  is  admirable  and  beautiful  in  all  respects. 
I  have  written  the  accompanying  notice.  I  would  send  it  to  Morris,  but  his 
paper  generally  goes  to  press  on  Tuesday,  and  it  would  be  too  late  for  this 
week.  I  therefore  send  it  on  t5  you,  that  you  may  have  it  inserted  in  the 
Tribune  or  any  other  influential  paper  at  once — so  that  C.  and  H.  may  quote 
it  when  they  announce  the  book. 

You  might  try  whether  it  is  in  time  for  Morris.  Tell  him  confiden 
tially  the  facts,  or  show  him  this  note.  If  you  d5  not  get  It  in  time  for  his 
paper,  I  will  write  another  for  him,  for  next  week.  I  will  send  you  some 


246  "THE  FEMALE  POETS." 

more  notices  in  the  course  of  a  day  or  two.    It  is  the  best  book  you  have  yet 
made.    I  predict  great  popularity  for  it.    Most  truly  yours, 

H[orace]  B[inney]  W[allace]. 

Mr.  Wallace's  opinion  was  not  universally  held  : — 

It  is  melancholy  to  have  to  make  these  quotations ;  it  is  a  poor  business 
to  break  a  butterfly  upon  a  wheel,  one  which  we  should  not  have  undertaken 
as  long  as  such  effusions  had  remained  confined  to  a  newspaper  corner,  or  a 
hard-to  fill  page  of  our  own  and  brother  monthlies ;  but  presented  to  us  in  a 
solid  and  durable  shape,  and  announced  as  a  body  of  literature  exhibiting 
"  a  pervading  aspiration  for  the  beautiful,"  we  feel  bound  to  say  that  the 
beautiful  has  not  been  attained,  and  to  show  why  we  think  so.  It  is  the 
duty  of  the  Critical  journals  to  protest  against  stupidity,  and  against  what  is 
worse,  the  self-sufficient  middling  class.  Utter  incapability,  when  not  amus 
ing,  excites  our  anger  or  contempt,  but  placid  mediocrity  stagnates  and 
leaves  us  to  perish  of  ennui.  .  . 

Moreover,  tacit  treaties  are  entered  into  between  authors,  the  terms  of 
which  are—"  Puff  my  ballads  and  I  will  praise  your  Epics."  We  have  been 
informed  that  several  clever  persons  in  Boston  have  been  spoiled  by  this 
log-rolling  in  literature.  Thus  it  is,  that  so  many  poetical  flowers  who  were 
born  to  blush  unseen,  and  to  waste  their  sweetness  in  manuscript,  have  been 
unnaturally  forced  into  the  full  bloom  of  print,  where  they  look  as  sadly 
misplaced  as  buttercups  in  a  bouquet.  There  are  some  indeed  who  are 
possessed  with  a  scribblo-mania  of  seven  devil  power.  The  love  of  notoriety 
buzzes  about  them,  as  the  gadfly  tormented  lo,  and  drives  them  to  wander 
in  the  fields  of  literature  with  Griswold  for  an  Argus :  an  Argus,  who  can 
not  see  any  more  clearly  than  themselves,  that  what  is  well  enough  in  Vers 
de  Societ6  is  trash  in  a  volume. 

"We  object  to  Mr.  Griswold  as  a  critic.  Because  he  brought  out  this 
book.  The  reading-life  of  the  oldest  is  short  and  full  of  weak  eyes,  and 
shelves  groan  with  first-rate  books.  Has  a  man  any  right  to  endeavor  to 
make  his  fellows  waste  precious  time  over  "Types  of  Heaven,"  "Dream 
Melodies,"  and  "  Soul  Music"  ?  .  .  . 

We  may  have  been  tedious,  but  we  do  not  think  we  have  been  unjust. 
.  .  .  We  can  get  the  good,  if  we  refuse  to  be  pleased  with  the  passable.  If 
we  cannot,  let  us  have  none.  Above  all,  let  us  keep  before  us  the  important 
fact,  that  geese  are  not  swans,  not  even  American  geese,  and  that  verses  and 
rhymes  d5  not  constitute  poetry.  The  donkey  was  twice  as  asinine  as  before 


MRS.  ELIZABETH  ELLET.  247 

when  he  donned  the  lion's  skin.  And  let  Mr.  Griswold,  if  he  brings  out  a 
new  edition  for  the  California  market,  modify  the  title,  and  borrowing  an 
expressive  word  from  the  Turkish,  call  it  the  Bosh-Book,  or  the  Female 
Poets  of  America.  [  Democratic  Keview,  March,  1849. 


New  York,  Jan.  14, 1849. 
Dear  James  [Fields]  :  .  .  . 

Because  I  did  not  print  her  own  estimate  of  her  genius  she  [Mrs. 
Ellet]  has  tried  her  hand  at  cutting  me  up,  in  sundry  quarters.  She  is  in 
diting  a  paper  upon  the  book  for  the  North  American — having  contracted  t5 
do  so  several  months  ago,  immediately  after  seeing  my  proof-sheets  embrac 
ing  her.  .  .  Not  a  bit  abashed  by  the  consideration  that  she  is  herself  a  subject 
treated  in  each  of  the  books— nor  by  that,  that  she  has  quarreled  with  and 
has  been  cut  by  Fanny  Osgood,  E.  Oakes  Smith,  and  half  a  dozen  others  wh5 
and  whose  are  most  especially  and  particularly  subjects  for  such  an  article. 
I  dread  no  honest  reviewal,  but  am  nervous  about  this.  .  . 

K.  W.  Griswold. 

"The  American  Publisher"  of  June  1868  givs  a  glimps  of 
Mrs.  Ellet's  literan*  activity  in  her  later  years.  She  died  in 
1877: 

A  curious  little  case  of  literary  imposition  has  recently  come  out  in 
New  York.  .  .  In  Putnam's  Monthly,  in  1853,  appeared  a  sketch  of  western 
adventure  entitled  '  Mary  Spears,'  written  by  Mrs.  Elizabeth  F.  Ellet,  a  per 
son  somewhat  known  in  literature,  but  who,  a  little  while  ago,  printed  an 
angry  note  in  a  New  York  paper,  violently  denying  that  she  had  anything  t5 
do  with  literature  as  a  business.  She,  however,  as  it  appears  by  Mr.  Put 
nam's  books,  received  the  money  for  the  sketch.  So  far,  so  good ;  but  in 
February,  1868,  Mrs.  Ellet  sold  to  Harper's  Monthly  a  sketch  of  western  ad 
venture,  entitled  'Mary  Nealy,'  which  was,  word  for  word,  the  same  as 
'  Mary  Spears,'  except  a  few  verbal  alterations.  This  looked  as  if  Mr.  Ellet 
(  doubtless  from  that  lack  of  acquaintance  with  the  business  side  of  litera 
ture  which  she  so  vigorously  insists  on  )  had  not  only  been  willing  t5  receive 
pay  for  her  work,  but  to  receive  it  twice  for  the  same  work.  These  facts 
were  observed  upon,  and  Mrs.  Ellet  squarely  denied,  in  a  printed  letter, 
having  anything  to  do  with  the  article  in  Putnam  in  1853.  Mr.  Putnam  then 
stating  the  case  on  his  side,  she  again  comes  out  with  the  story  that '  a  friend 
of  hers'  took  the  sketch  out  of  one  of  Mrs.  Ellet's  books  and  sent  it  t5  the 


248  MRS.  WHITMAN  AND  POE. 

magazine.  Mrs.  Ellet  does  not  state  who  this  *  friend'  was.  Meanwhile  the 
debit  of  cash  paid  to  Mrs.  Ellet  for  the  article  in  1853  becomes  in  consequence 
very  mysterious,  as  the  'friend 'must  apparently  have  counterfeited  Mrs. 
Ellet  to  get  the  money.  These  absences  of  mind  will  now  and  then  happen. 
A  little  while  ago  Dr.  J.  W.  Palmer  contributed,  a§  original,  a  very  lively 
article  to  the  Atlantic,  which,  as  soon  appeared,  he  ( or  some  '  friend' )  had 
mainly  extracted  from  a  book  of  travels. 


Boston,  January  17, 1849. 
Dear  Rufus.  .  . 

Don't  -you  be  alarmed,  my  Dear  Boy,  about  Ellet  &  Co.  There  is 
nothing  to  be  feared.  You  stand  as  fair  and  honorably  before  the  public  as 
any  literary  man  could  reasonably  desire.  Your  books  have  made  you  a 
name  among  the  best  sort  of  people  that  all  the  itinerants  in  York  state  can 
not  permanently  harm. 

I  am  called  away.  Let  me  hear  how  I  may  serve  you  always  and  be 
lieve  me  your  old  friend,  Most  Truly, 

J.  T.  F[ields]. 

Washington,  January  21, 1849. 
Friend  G. 

I  received  your  'Female  Poets'  yesterday,  and  am  greatly 
obliged  for  it.  I  believe  it  has  been  amply  noticed  in  the  Tribune,  but  I  will 
d5  the  worth  of  it  somewhere.  It  is  a  good  collection,  though  your  style  is 
stiff,  and  a  critic  can  readily  detect  samenesses  in  the  notices— can  detect 
them  easier  than  he  could  avoid  them,  I  fancy.  Your  touch  to  T.  B.  Read 
and  Miss  C.  May  is  cruelly  severe— I  don't  say  it  is  not  just,  but  it  will  add  t5 
the  already  respectable  list  of  your  enemies. 

What  I  write  for  is  simply  to  compliment  you  on  the  admirable  exe 
cution  of  the  work  in  a  secondary  sense— not  really  typographical,  nor 
mechanical,  but  something  above  but  including  these.  How  could  you  make 
the  pieces  fill  out  columns  and  the  different  subjects  square  out  pages  so  well 
without  being  present  in  Philadelphia?  I  had  to  fight  desperately  with  the 
Whig  Almanac  for  some  approximation  to  this,  and  only  succeeded  so  long 
as  I  made  it  myself. 

Do  you  know  Sarah  Helen  Whitman?  Of  course,  you  have  heard  it 
rumored  that  she  is  to  marry  Poe.  Well,  she  has  seemed  to  me  a  good  girl, 
and— you  know  what  Poe  is.  Now  I  know  a  widow  of  doubtful  age  will 


GREELEY,— MISS    GARY.  249 

marry  almost  any  sort  of  a  white  man,  but  this  seems  to  me  a  terrible  con 
junction.  Has  Mrs.  Whitman  no  friend  within  your  knowledge  that  can 
faithfully  explain  Poe  to  her?  I  never  attempted  this  sort  of  thing  but  once, 
and  the  net  product  was  two  enemies  and  a  hastening  of  the  marriage ;  but  I 
do  think  she  must  be  deceived.  Mrs.  Osgood  must  know  her.  .  . 

I  never  knew  till  yesterday  that  Mrs.  Osgood  was  that  sister  of  Alaric 
A.  Locke  of  whom  he  talked  with  me  so  many  years  ago. 

Only  six  weeks  more  here,  and  I  care  not  how  fast  they  fly.  I  have 
divided  the  House  into  two  parties— one  that  would  like  to  see  me  extin 
guished  and  the  other  that  wouldn't  be  satisfied  without  a  hand  in  doing  it 
[  in  consequence  of  his  exposure  of  the  mileage  frauds  by  which  members  of 
congress  added  largely  to  their  salaries.]  I  have  to  write  about  myself  to 
a  most  disgusting  extent,  but  I  don't  see  how  I  can  help  it  when  every  day 
starts  some  lie  like  that  of  my  taking  Long  Mileage,  voting  for  the  Books, 
etc.  And  as  neither  the  Intelligencer  nor  Union  will  say  a  word  for  me,  and 
the  Intelligencer  refused  to  print  the  only  note  I  ever  sent  it,  I  have  no  utter 
ance  but  through  The  Tribune.  If  they  would  give  me  the  floor  but  one  half 
hour  on  the  Mileage  Question,  and  let  me  speak  without  incessant  interrup 
tion,  I  would  ask  no  odds  ever  after.  But  I  don't  suppose  I  shall  get  another 
chance  to  speak  on  it  at  all,  and  I  haven't  had  half  a  one  yet.  Yours, 

Horace  Greeley. 


Mt.  Healthy,  Jan.  26, 1849. 
Mr.  Griswold —  .  .  . 

I  can  never  sufficiently  thank  you  for  the  kind  interest  you  take 
in  myself  and  sister.  .  . 

We  think  of  visiting  the  eastern  cities  next  summer  when  I  hope  for 
the  happiness  of  seeing  you — in  the  meantime,  I  shall  not  fail  to  exert  myself 
to  more  fully  merit  the  very  flattering  opinion  you  are  pleased  to  express 
of  me. 

I  am  very  happy  t5  avail  myself  of  your  obliging  offer  to  secure  for  us 
a  more  available  disposal  of  our  poems.  Any  arrangements  you  may  find  it 
convenient  to  make  will  be  gratefully  endorsed  by  us— but  I  must  protest 
against  your  giving  yourself  any  trouble  on  our  account. 

We  have  until  quite  recently  written  gratuitously,  but  are  now  receiv 
ing  a  trifling  remuneration  for  our  correspondence — to  give  you  an  idea  of 
its  amount,  I  will  state  that  we  write  alternately  for  The  National  Era  every 
week  for  two  dollars  an  article  I  We  have  several  other  engagements  on 


250  MISS  CARY,— FIELDS. 

terms  a  trifle  in  advance  of  those  stated,  and  as  we  are  dependent  on  our 
poems  almost  exclusively,  it  is  advisable  that  we  make  the  best  disposal  of 
them. 

Be  assured  that  I  shall  be  most  happy  to  number  you  among  my  cor 
respondents,  and  shall  gratefully  and  proudly  receive  any  communication 
with  which  you  may  be  pleased  to  favor  me,  but  business  must  plead  my 
excuse  for  so  early  an  intrusion  upon  your  notice.  It  would  certainly  be  a 
gratification  to  me  to  have  our  poems,  or  rather  a  selection  from  them,  issued 
by  one  of  our  eastern  publishers,  and  if  you  can  dispose  of  the  copyright  so  as 
to  ensure  you  a  compensation  for  editing  the  work,  and  will  consent  to  edit 
it,  we  shall  be  content  to  receive  whatever  more  there  may  be,  or  if  nothing 
more,  to  receive  nothing.  Should  you  be  able  to  make  such  arrangements, 
we  will  immediately  set  about  the  preparation  of  the  volume.  We  have 
selected  "  Woodnotes  "  as  a  title— what  do  you  think  of  it?  Any  suggestions 
you  may  make  with  reference  to  the  proposed  volume  will  be  gratefully 
received. 

I  cannot  close  without  again  offering  my  grateful  acknowledgements 
for  the  kind  favor  with  which  you  have  been  pleased  to  honor  me,  and  ex 
pressing  the  hope  you  may  be  speedily  restored  to  perfect  health, 

I  am,  with  sincere  regard,  very  truly  yours, 

Alice  Cary. 


Boston,  Feb.  28, 1849. 
Dear  Grissy : 

Thank  you  for  your  admirable  letter.  I  enclose  with  this  the 
proof  sheets  of  my  volume  as  far  as  it  is  printed.  It  will  be  a  handsome 
book  as  regards  paper  and  printing  and  I  hope  will  not  disgrace  the  friends 
of  the  author.  Write  me  by  return  of  mail  if  you  have  time  to  look  at  the 
sheets  and  how  you  like  the  new  poems.  Whittier,  Longfellow  and  Holmes 
praise  the  unpublished  lyrics,  especially  "The  Tempest"  and  "The  Ant 
lers."  If  you  don't  like  them  I  shall  burn  my  book  and  drown  myself. 

How  sad  is  poor  Hoffman's  fate.  Write  me  the  cause,  don't  fail,  by 
return  of  mail. 

Longfellow's  new  Bk.  Kavanagh  is  fine.  Better  than  Hyperion.  Why 
in  Time  don't  you  come  our  way  and  see  the  boys?  E.  P.  Whipple,  Essayist, 
has  the  fattest  baby  with  the  largest  head  in  the  States.  J.  T.  F.  has  the 
nicest  little  woman  at  his  elbow  ( who  says,  "  remember  me  to  Mr.  Gris- 
wold  "  )  in  all  Boston. 


JOHN  G.   SAXE.  251 

We  are  all  well  and  I  hope  to  be  at  Trade  Sale  and  go  to  Miss  Lynch's 
and  look  upon  the  notorieties  of  the  great  city  with  you  and  Fanny  Osgood. 
Till  then  adieu.    Yours  always,  Dear  Rufus, 

J.  T.  F[ields]. 


Burlington,  Vt..  May  11, 1849. 
Dear  Sir, 

I  got  your  letter  of  the  6th  inst.  last  evening  ( being  here  on  a 
visit )  whither  it  followed  me  from  Highgate.  As  there  is  no  time  for 
11  manners,"  let  me  say  at  once  that  I  thank  you  heartily  for  your  proposal — 
and  cheerfully  accept  it — though  I  could  wish  that  I  had  a  little  time  to  pol 
ish  up  my  "minor"  pieces,  which,  I  fear  will  hardly  afford  "  specimens  " 
that  will  warrant  you  in  speaking  as  well  of  the  writer  as  the  longer  and 
more  elaborate  articles.  If  you  can  make  room  for  so  much,  I  hope  you  will 
not  f  ail  to  print"  Miss  McB[  ride]"  entire.  This,  with  "  The  Legal  Bal 
lad,"  or  a  few  extracts  from  "  Progress  "  will  probably  fill  all  the  space  you 
can  spare — if  not,  add  the  "  Sonnet"  or  the  "Rhyme  of  the  Rail" — or  the  Dog 
Days,  or  what  you  will — only  remembering  to  get  in  "  Miss  McB."  bodily — 
and  consult  your  taste  for  the  rest.  Pray  take  care  of  the  punctuation  and 
the  like — "  what  you'd  have  it,  make  it."  I  send  you  another  copy  of 
"  Progress"  with  corrections  and  marked  passages — also  a  correct  copy  of 
"MissMacB."  for  your  use.  I  have  no  copy  of  ''the  New  Rape  of  the 
Lock"— you  will  find  that,  if  you  choose  to  see  it  in  the  Deer.  Knick.  1847.  .  . 
As  to  making  a  collection,  I  may  do  so  by  and  by,  when  you  shall  find 
me  a  publisher  (  which  I  have  never  sought  as  yet)  who  will  do  it  up  neatly 
with  illustrations  in  the  Darley  way.  .  .  Yours  very  truly, 

John  G.  Saxe. 

P.  S.— My  friend  Mr.  Stansbury  says  he  shall  send  you  by  to-day's 
mail  some  pleasant  remarks  personal  to  myself  which  will  a  little  relieve  the 
barren  figures  I  have  put  together  for  you.  Yours  &c., 

J.  G.  Saxe. 

John  G.  Saxe  born  at  Highgate,  on  the  2nd  day  of  June,  1816, — son  of 
late  Hon.  Peter  Saxe  (a  German  with  a  Yankee  wife) — worked  on  the 
homestead  in  H.  up  to  the  age  of  17 — then  at  the  Academy  in  St.  Albans — 
then  3  years  in  Middlebury  Coll.  Vt.,  graduating  in  the  summer  of  1839. 
Read  Law  in  Lockport,  N.  Y.  and  St.  Albans,  Vt.  four  years — and  admitted 
t5  the  Bar  at  the  latter  place  Sept.  1843 — since  then  residing  at  St.  A.  and 


252  ESTELLE  ANNA  LEWIS. 

Highgate,  practicing  Law  for  a  living.  Quiet,  pleasant  life — with  nothing 
remarkable  in  it  but  the  fact  that  he  wrote  no  verses  till  after  his  marriage  in 
Sept.  1841, — his  wife  being  the  first  of  his  "  muses" — of  any  consequence. 
Read  but  few  books  in  general  literature  and  chiefly  of  the  old  English 
Essayists  and  Poets.  .  . 


Diary:  Aug.  23.  Begin  the  preparation  of  the  Am[ericanJ  Hist[or- 
ical]  Mag[azine]  for  Graham.  Walking  up  town  encounter  [Lewis  Gay- 
lord]  Clark,  and  go  to  his  house  in  22nd  St. 

Diary:  Aug.  24.  Met  this  morning  Ripley,  Tuckerman,  and  G.  G. 
Ffoster  ] ,  the  latter  telling  me  a  hugh  story  about  "  Major  Byron,"  who  pre 
tends  to  be  a  bastard  of  "  my  Lord."  Dine  at  the  Park  Hotel,  in  Newark, 
where  I  visit  the  Kinneys,  and  by  the  evening  cars  come  to  Philadelphia. 


Brooklyn,  Sept.  3d,  1849. 
Dear  Doctor : 

You  said  to  me,  when  I  saw  you  last,  that  you  intended  to  re 
write  the  Sketch  of  Mrs.  Lewis,  for  your  new  Edition  of  the  "  Female 
Poets."  This  I  assure  you  will  be  most  gratifying  to  her  numerous  friends 
and  admirers;  and,  therefore,  I  am  certrin,  increase  the  sale  of  the  Book. 

It  will  incur,  I  think  you  said,  an  expense  of  about  $2.60  per  page.  If 
you  prepare  the  sketch,  and  do  the  proof-reading  I  think  it  no  more  than 
fair  that  I  should  be  at  the  expense  of  the  new  Stereotyping.  You  will 
please,  therefore,  let  me  know,  as  soon  as  you  can  ascertain,  the  number  of 
pages,  and  I  will  send  you  my  check  for  the  amount. 

Mrs.  L.'s  baptismal  name  is  Estelle  Anna.  Her  family  preferred  the 
latter  for  its  simplicity ;  and  if  they  used  the  former,  they  always  shortened 
it  to  Stelle ;  which  led  her  sometimes  to  write  it  S.  Anna.  Almost  as  soon  as 
her  writings  appeared  under  this  signature,  an  officious  Editor  wrote  it  out 
Sarah;  and  others  copied.  She  never  wrote  her  name  Sarah  in  her  life, — or 
signed  it  that  to  anything  she  ever  wrote.  After  the  manuscript  of  the 
"  Records,"  left  her  for  the  printer,  written  as  usual  S.  Anna,  I  foolishly 
wrote  out  Sarah  in  full— supposing  that  Estelle  could  not  be  restored  to  her, 
and  thus  it  has  gone  to  the  great  vexation  of  the  mis-named.  Is  there  any 
remedy,  in  foot-note  or  otherwise? .  .  . 

S.  D.  Lewis. 


Diary :    Oct.  8.    Wrote,  hastily,  two  or  three  colums  about  Poe,  for 
the  Tribune. 


j:  T.  s.  SULLIVAN.  253 

Diary:  Oct.  16.  Call  on  Mrs.  Lewis,  to  assort,  at  her  home,  Foe's 
papers. 

Diary :    Oct.  iT.    The  affairs  of  Poe.  .  . 

Diary:  Oct.  25.  Eecommence  Biographical]  Dictionary.  Letter 
from  Wallace.  Walk  with  Willis.  Letters  from  J.  Russell  Lowell,  Whipple, 
Wallace,  Thompson,  &c.  .  . 

Diary :  Oct.  27.  Attended  T.  L.  Clingman,  of  N.  C.,  to  Miss  Lynches, 
where  I  met  Willis,  Giles,  &c. 

Diary :    Oct.  29.    Sat  to  Elliot. 


Philad'a,  29  Oct.,  1849. 
Dear  Sir  [  W :  H.  Graham  ]  : 

I  enclose  the  notice  upon  Dr.  Griswold  for  your  gallery.  You 
have  undoubtedly  made  a  very  bad  bargain,  and  the  memoir  is  not  worth 
what  you  have  paid  for  it.  However,  I  am  under  the  mortifying  necessity 
of  avowing  that  it  is  the  best  that  I  can  d5.  Very  respectfully, .your  obe 
dient  servant, 

Jno:  H.  Meredith. 


[Jan.,  1849.] 
My  dear  James  [Fields]  :  .  .  . 

Poor  Jack  Sullivan  is  gone.  .  .  He  was  a  fellow  of  infinite  humor, 
as  was  shown  in  the  suitable  obituary  I  printed  upon  the  occasion  of  his 
departure,  in  the  Tribune.  .  .  He  was  probably  the  handsomest  man  in  these 
United  States.  He  was  the  best  raconteur  in  the  world,  and  of  amateur 
singers,  in  some  half  a  dozen  languages,  I  don't  know  that  th£re  is  now  liv 
ing  any  one  deserving  to  be  compared  to  him.  As  a  story-teller  ( I  d5  not 
suspect  you,  James,  mind,  of  ever  having  told  a  story ! )  but  as  a  story-teller 
nevertheless,  I  think  you  were  heir-apparent,  and  inevitably, — recollecting 
that  Frenchman's  supper,  you  appear  to  me  to  be  his  successor.  .  . 

R.  W.  Griswold. 

San  Francisco,  Cal.,  Nov.  15  ,  1849. 
My  dear  Dr.  Griswold :  .  .  . 

Since  I  last  wrote  you  vast  alterations  have  taken  place  both  as 
relates  to  the  growth  of  the  city  and  the  state  of  business.  The  buildings 
increase  faster,  and  the  demand  for  house  carpenters  has  caused  some  of  our 
young  lawyers  t5  take  up  the  hammer  and  plane,  as  more  money  can  be 
made  thus,  than  in  smoothing  down  the  rough  characters  of  the  town. 


254  SAN  FRANCISCO. 

But  to  speculation  there  is  an  end  for  the  present.  Nearly  every  land 
property  has  fallen.  Lots  which  readily  brought  $1500  a  week  ago  are  now 
selling  for  $500.  This  is  owing  to  the  rains  which  have  now  really  com 
menced,  and  are  far  too  full  of  rheumatism  to  be  encountered  by  our  mon 
eyed  speculators.  Money  is  plenty,  and  as  everyone  has  enough  to  pass 
thro'  the  winter,  business  must  necessarily  pursue  but  an  even  way  till 
spring,  when  no  doubt  things  will  take  a  fresh  and  higher  start. 

Order  reigns  supreme,  and  I  doubt  if  there  is  a  more  quiet  city  on  the 
other  side  of  the  mountains  than  this.  Gambling,  I  am  happy  to  state,  is 
fast  eating  itself  up.  A  month  or  two  ago  these  gamesters  alone  controlled 
the  money  market;  but  now  men  of  worth  and  integrity  manage  such  affairs. 
During  the  past  month  one  murder  has  been  committed.  It  speaks  well,  I 
think,  for  the  order  of  a  city  of  20,000  souls. 

Bayard  Taylor,  who,  by  the  way,  is  one  of  the  most  companionable 
and  interesting  individuals  extant,  left  us  for  the  valley  of  the  Sacramento 
last  week.  It  is  a  sure  thing  that  this  is  a  genial  soil  for  him.  Every  one 
likes  him,  and  you  can  rely  on  his  statements,  as  he  is  not  at  all  addicted  to 
branching  off  into  the  whirlpool  of  imagination. 

I  have  raked  up  several  old  Spanish  and  Latin  manuscripts,  among 
which  is  the  lubrications  of  a  San  Jose  padre,  in  relation  to  the  discovery 
and  settlement  of  this  part  of  our  continent;  also  some  rare  and  spicy  logic : 
all  of  which  I  shall  send  home  soon.  With  the  highest  consideration  I  am 
yours  truly,  and  about  so, 

Frank  Moore. 


[  H :  B.  Hirst  to  Griswold.  ] 

I  was  born  on  the  23d  day  of  August,  1817.  .  .  I  owe  my  birth  to 
Philadelphia.  My  father,  Thomas  Hirst,  Esq.,  was  a  shipping  Merchant.  .  . 
He  subsequently  became  unfortunate  in  business,  a  fact  which,  of  course, 
interfered  materially  with  my  early  advancement,  and  will  explain  some 
matters  which  occur  hereafter  in  my  notes. 

At  the  age  of  nine  or  ten  years,  with  no  other  education  than  that  re 
ceived  previously  at  an  infant  school,  I  entered  the  office  of  my  half  brother, 
Win.  L.  Hirst,  Esqr.,  since  a  distinguished  member  of  the  Philadelphia  Bar. 
At  the  age  of  sixteen  I  was  sent  to  the  Preparatory  school  of  our  University, 
where  I  remained  nine  months.  I  carried  off  the  leading  honors  in  all  my 
classes  and  was  looked  upon  by  my  preceptor,  the  Principal  of  the  Acad 
emy,  Revd.  Saml.  W.  Crawford,  as  one  of  the  best  boys,  if  not  the  best  boy 


HENRY  B.   HIRST.  255 

in  school.  At  the  end  of  this  time  my  half-brother  thinking  that  I  had  re 
ceived  a  sufficient  classical  education,  recalled  me  to  his  office.  My  classical 
acquirements  since  have  been  the  result  of  my  own  industry. 

My  boyhood  was  enlivened  by  a  passionate  fondness  for  Natural 
History.  I  studied  Ornithology,  Botany,  Mineralogy  and  Conchology  very 
closely — made  drawings  from  Nature  in  the  two  first  studies — and  corres 
ponded  and  exchanged  specimens  with  some  of  the  most  distinguished 
savans  of  Europe.  During  all  this  time  I  received  no  assistance,  pecuniary 
or  otherwise,  from  my  half-brother,  although  all  my  time  was  spent  in  his 
service,  but  remained,  as  I  have  ever  since  done,  dependent  on  my  own  per 
sonal  exertions  for  support. 

At  the  age  of  twenty-one  not  satisfied  to  remain  any  longer  with  that 
gentleman  I  left  his  office  without  taking  my  certificate  of  studentship,  which 
I  obtained  from  him  in  1842  with  very  great  difficulty.  In  February,  1843, 1 
passed  a  most  honorable  examination  and  was  admitted  to  the  Bar.  I  was 
tolerably  successful  even  at  first,  but  now  I  have  a  very  excellent  practice. 

My  first  poetical  efforts,  to  the  best  of  my  recollections,  occurred  either 
in  my  21st  or  22nd  year.  They  were  crude  and  unmusical  and  I  at  once  sat 
down  t5  master  the  difficulties  of  English  versification.  You  know  how  far 
I  have  succeeded.  At  school  my  scansion  of  the  Latin  Poets  was  always 
perfect. 

I  commenced  my  public  contributions  in  "  Graham,"  and  have  since 
contributed  t5  all  the  leading  magazines  and  annuals.  In  1845  I  published 
my  first  volume  "  The  Coming  of  |the  Mammoth,  the  Funeral  of  Time  and 
other  Poems."  Phillips  and  Sampson,  Boston  were  my  publishers.  The 
volume  was  highly  praised  both  in  England  and  America,  and  is  now  out  of 
print.  A  second  edition  will  be  published  during  the  ensuing  year.  In 
July,  1848, 1  published  "Endymion.  A  Tale  of  Greece,"  an  epic  poem  in 
four  cantos,  a  second  edition  of  which  will  appear  during  the  present  year; 
the  first  is  almost  if  not  quite  exhausted.  I  have  now  in  the  press  of  the 
same  house  "  The  Penance  of  Roland,  A  Romance  of  the  Peine  Forte  et 
Dure;  Florence,  with  other  Poems."  This  volume  will  appear  in  a  very 
few  weeks. 

I  am  the  author  of  various  sporting  articles  (  prose  )  which  appeared 
in  the  New  York  "  Spirit  of  the  Times"  under  the  nom  deplume  of  Harry 
Harkaway.  .  .  I  have  always  been  an  enthusiastic  sportsman  both  in  field 
and  on  flood,  and  am  perhaps,  one  of  the  best  "  shots"  in  the  country. 


256  MRS.  OSGOOD  ON  POE. 

The  letters  from  Foe  and  his  wife  referred  t6  belo  hav  not 
been  found  ;  they  wer  probably  among  those  destroyed  (  as  he 
tells  us  in  his  Memoirs )  by  Mr.  C :  G.  Leland,  in  1853. 

[Mrs.  Osgood  to  Griswold,  1850]  .  .  . 

I  trust  you  will  write  that  life  of  Poe.  I  will  d5  as  you  wished : — 
I  will  write,  as  far  as  is  proper,  in  a  letter  to  you,  my  reminiscences  of  that 
year,  and  try  to  make  it  interesting  and  dignified,  and  you  in  introducing  it 
by  one  single  sentence  can  put  down  at  once  my  envious  calumniators.  You 
have  the  proof  in  Mrs.  Poe's  letter  to  me,  and  in  his  t5  Mrs.  Ellet,  either  of 
which  would  fully  establish  my  innocence  in  a  court  of  justice — certainly  Tiers 
would.  Neither  of  them,  as  you  know,  were  persons  likely  to  take  much 
trouble  to  prove  a  woman's  innocence,  and  it  was  only  because  she  felt  that 
I  had  been  cruelly  and  shamefully  wronged  by  her  mother  and  Mrs.  E[llet] 
that  she  impulsively  rendered  me  that  justice.  She,  Mrs.  Poe,  felt  grieved 
that  she  herself  had  drawn  me  into  the  snare  by  imploring  me  to  be  kind  to 
Edgar,— to  grant  him  my  society  and  to  write  to  him,  because,  she  said,  I 
was  the  only  woman  he  knew  who  influenced  him  for  his  good,  or,  indeed, 
who  had  any  lasting  influence  over  him.  I  wish  the  simple  truth  to  be 
known, — that  he  sought  me,  not  I  him.  It  is  too  cruel  that  I,  the  only  one 
of  those  literary  women  who  did  not  seek  his  acquaintance, — for  Mrs.  Ellet 
asked  an  introduction  to  him  and  followed  him  everywhere,  Miss  Lynch 
begged  me  to  bring  him  there  and  called  upon  him  at  his  lodgings,  Mrs. 
Whitman  besieged  him  with  valentines  and  letters  long  before  he  wrote  or 
took  any  notice  of  her,  and  all  the  others  wrote  poetry  and  letters  to  him, — 
it  is  too  cruel  that  I  should  be  singled  out  after  his  death  as  the  only  victim 
t5  suffer  from  the  slanders  of  his  mother.  I  never  thought  of  him  till  he 
sent  me  his  Raven  and  asked  Willis  to  introduce  him  to  me,  and  immediately 
after  I  went  to  Albany,  and  afterwards  to  Boston  and  Providence  to  avoid 
him,  and  he  followed  me  to  each  of  those  places  and  wrote  to  me,  imploring 
me  to  love  him,  many  a  letter  which  I  did  not  reply  to  until  his  wije  added 
her  entreaties  to  his  and  said  that  I  might  save  him  from  infamy,  and  her 
from  death,  by  showing  an  affectionate  interest  in  him." 

When  Mrs.  Osgood  went  t6  Albany  it  was  t6  visit  her  sister, 
the  wife  of  the  Rev.  Henry  F.  Harrington,  a  gentleman  wh6 
had  begun  life  as  a  magazine  writer,  and  wh6  ended  it,  in  1887, 
as  the  highly  respected  superintendent-of-schools  in  Kew  Bed 
ford.  In  1885  Mr.  Harrington  published  his  recollections  of 


POE   AND  MRS.  O8GOOD.  257 

these  events  :  "  It  might  have  been  about  a  year  afterward,"  he 
says,  "  when,  returning  t6  my  home  in  Albany,  after  an  absence 
in  the  city  of  New  York,  Mrs.  Osgood,  wh6  was  then  on  a  visit 
to  my  family,  related  that  while  I  had  been  gone  Poe  had 
sought  an  interview  with  her  alone  in  my  parlor,  and  in  pas 
sionate  terms  had  besought  her  t6  elope  with  him.  She  de 
scribed  his  attitudes  as  well  as  reported  his  words — how  he 
went  down  on  his  knee  and  clasped  his  hands,  and  pleaded  for 
her  consent ;  how  she  met  him  with  mingled  ridicule  and  re 
proof,  appealing  t6  his  better  nature,  and  striving  t6  stimulate 
a  resolution  t6  abandon  his  vicious  courses  ;  and  how  finally  he 
took  his  leave,  baffled  and  humiliated,  if  not  ashamed.  Not 
long  after,  when  again  in  New  York  City,  I  sought  the  home 
of  a  family  of  which  I  had  repeatedly  been  a  guest.  It  con 
sisted  of  a  husband  and  his  beautiful  wife,  wh6  loved  each 
other  with  confiding  affection  ;  and  their  home  was  bright  with 
the  sunshine  of  innocence  and  peace.  I  learned  from  mutual 
friends  that  it  was  now  no  more.  It  had  been  ruthlessly 
destroyed.  Poe  had  marked  the  poor  unsuspecting  woman  for 
his  victim,  and  wound  his  insidious  snares  about  her,  weaned 
her  affections  from  her  husband,  and  accomplished  her  ruin. " 


Custom  House,  Jan.  4,  1850. 
My  dear  friend : 

"It  is  very  easy  for  sugar  to  be  sweet,"  says  Emerson,  and  that 
is  the  reason  why  you  were  so  sweet  upon  me  in  the  Home  Journal.  It  was 
kindly  and  handsomely  done,  and  I  am  grateful  for  it.  I  only  regret  that  I 
do  not  deserve  it. 

I  intended  some  time  since  to  ask  the  privilege  of  writing  you  up  in 
Holden's  Magazine,  but  a  multiplicity  of  engagements  prevented.  If  you 
will  lend  me  a  Duguerreotype  I  will  have  a  good  wood  portrait  cut,  and  write 
myself  a  sketch  to  accompany  it.  ...  Very  truly, 

Chas.  F.  Briggs. 


Philad'a,  24th  January,  [  1850] . 
Dear  James  [  Fields  ]  :  .  .  . 

Can  you  possibly  get  Daguerreotype  of  Hawthorne  t5  be  engraved 
for  the  "International"?    I  want  t5  do  Hawthorne   (who  is,  as  I  have 


258  LADY  LYTTON. 

printed  it  a  dozen  times,  decidedly  the  greatest  living  literary  man  in  this 
country,  greatest,  in  romance,  now  writing  the  English  language).  I  want 
tS  do  Hawthorne's  life  for  the  occasion  of  a  reviewal  of  the  "  Seven 
Gables"  .  .  . 

R.  W.  G. 


Gentlemen  [  Stringer  &  Townsend,  Publishers  ]  : 

I  have  long  had  a  great  wish  to  visit  your  country ;  first  because 
I  consider  it  a  great  one,  rapidly  rising  into  the  Mistress  of  the  World,  and 
as  Such,  think  that  the  promising  youth — of  what  will  eventually  be  so  glo 
rious  a  maturity, — deserves  better  of  its  collateral  relatives — the  Elder  Na 
tions,— than  to  have,  from  time  to  time,  its  "  Domestic  Manners  "  caricatured 
because  they  may  differ  from  our  own,—  or  its  kind  letters  of  introduction 
converted  into  base  coin  "  for  general  circulation."  Nor  could  I  afford  to 
do  so  on  my  own  account.  I  could  gladly  go  to  the  United  States,  for  the  sake 
of  writing  an  impartial — (  unprejudicial  is  the  fitter  word),  Statistical, 
work  upon  America,  in  short,  a  sort  of  Else — and  Progress — of  this  great 
people : — as  free  from  Hogarth  and  Punch, — as  Gibbon's  ''  Decline  and 
Fall"  is  from  Pasquale  or  Juvenal. 

But  I  have  been  so  involved  in  legal  expenses — by  a  series  of  Marital 
conspiracies  in  which  my  little  Reptile  of  a  Brother  in  law, — Sir  Henry 
Bulwer — whihn  they  have  now  sent  you  out  to  Washington :  ( though  Aus 
tralia  would  have  been  a  more  fitting  destination  for  him )  took  an  active 
part  that  rendered  him  more  infamous,  than  famous :— but  with  the  details 
of  which  I  am  not  of  course  going  to  bore  you,  but  merely  to  ask  if  you 
would  be  willing  to  guarantee  me  Eighteen  Hundred  pounds  for  such  a 
work  as  the  one  I  have  mentioned? — paying  800  of  the  sum  previous  to  my 
leaving  England?  I  should  think  by  subscription,  even  very  small  subscrip 
tions,  such  a  sum  would  easily  be  realized ;  and  I  confess  it  would  afford  me 
sincere  gratification  to  owe  my  liberation  from  my  unmerited  and  over 
whelming  difficulties  to  your  really  free,  and  generous,  and  consequently 
not  merely  nominally  Moral  country,  for  our  soi-disant  Moral  (?)and 
very  Pharisaical  England— has,  God  bless  it,  reached  such  a  pitch  of  sordid 
corruption  and  venal  slavery — as  must  ( without  some  great  and  vital 
change)  soon  cause  it  to  totter  to  its  fall.  Trusting  to  your  courtesy  for  a 
speedy  reply, 

I  have  the  Honor  to  be,  gentlemen,  Your  Obedient  Servant, 

Rosiua  Bulwer  Lytton. 
5  A  Sloane  St.,  Hyde  Park  corner,  London,  February  6th,  1850. 


THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  259 

Philadelphia,  Jan.  31,  1850. 
Dear  Sir— 

.  .  .  Mrs.  Osgood's  Poems  has  not  sold  as  yet  as  well  as  Mrs. 
Sigourney.  Of  the  latter  200  were  sold  in  Boston  the  first  month,  wheTeas 
out  of  200  sent  to  Phillips  &  Sampson  they  write  us  they  wish  to  return 
100.  .  .  Mr.  Putnam  had  sold  but  11  copies.  .  .  Yours  etc., 

A.  S.  Hart. 


Chestertown,  Kent  County,  Maryland,  Feb.  14, 1850. 
To  the  Editor  of  the  Tribune.  .  . 

A  few  days  ago  a  friend  sent  me  a  number  of  your  paper  which 
contained  some  remarks  on  the  character  of  Mr.  Jefferson.  I  thank  you  for 
your  boldness  in  telling  some  plain,  and  to  some  of  our  modern  Democrats, 
startling  truths.  All  that  you  say,  with  the  exception  of  the  closing  scene  of 
Lear's  life,  was  known  to  me  before.  But  I  rejoice  to  find  that  other  people 
know  these  things  and  are  not  afraid  to  speak  of  ...  the  character  of  a  man 
who,  for  selfishness,  duplicity  and  insincerity,  stands  without  an  equal  in  the 
age  in  which  he  lived. 

You  are  willing,  you  say,  to  give  Mr.  Jefferson  all  credit  for  his  great 
political  forecast  and  an  ardent  patriotism.  In  this  you  are  more  liberal  than 
I.  .  .  Tell  us  more  about  his  secret  connection  with  the  private,  and  of  course 
confidential  Secretary  of  Gen.  Washington,  Tobias  Lear;  with  .  .  .  I.  T. 
Callender — and  his  encouragement  of  the  Pennsylvania  Whiskey  Insurgents. 
Trace  him  in  all  his  windings  and  doublings  from  the  Retreat  to  Carter's 
Mountain  to  the  4th  July  1826,  when  he  killed  himself  by  taking  Laudanum, 
that  he  might  end  his  career  on  the  anniversary  of  the  most  memorable  act 
of  his  life.— I  must  tell  you  my  authority  fer  this  fact  which  I  have  never 
seen  in  print. — A  friend  of  mine,  the  late  Henry  Page  of  Cambridge,  Md., 
told  me  that,  while  on  a  Tour  to  the  Medicinal  Springs  in  Virginia,  he  was 
informed  by  the  Keeper  of  a  bridge  in  sight  of  Monticello,  that  the  whole 
neighborhood  well  knew  that  Mr.  J.  took  a  quantity  of  Laudanum  on  the 
morning  of  July  4th  and  that  he  died  under  its  influence.  He  further  said 
that  the  friends  endeavored  to  hush  the  matter,  but  could  not.  It  was  well 
known.  .  .  .  Your  obliged  and  respectful  servant, 

Peregrine  Wroth. 

My  dear  Sir, 

I  have  to-day  your  letter  touching  Jefferson ;  but  I  have  not 
received  the  Tribune  containing  your  article. 


260  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

I  read  the  article  some  days  ago  .  .  .  and  think  it  admirable.  I  never 
read  anything  in  a  newspaper  which  I  think  superior. 

Now  allow  me  to  advise  you  as  to  the  mode  of  reply.  Wait  until  the 
enemy  has  printed  all  that  he  intends  to  print.  Then  do  not  make  a  new 
article  in  the  shape  of  a  mere  answer  to  the  Ledger's  articles;  but  revise  and 
extend  your  original  article,  taking  notice  of  any  new  matter  introduced  by 
the  Ledger,  and  replying  to  it,  in  connexion  with  the  matter  in  your  origi 
nal  paper.  You  will  thus  avoid  the  directly  controversial  form,  which  I 
think  is  always  to  be  shunned,  for  there  is  no  end  to  it,  and  a  mendacious, 
half-crazy  penny-a-liner  like  Jarvis  can  always  have  the  last  word.  .  . 

Can  you  obtain  certain  evidence  about  the  articles  in  Freneau's  paper? 
Where  is  the  copy  of  the  paper  which  you  allude  to?  It  would  be  worth  a 
journey  to  Kamskatka  to  see  it.  .  .  In  haste  Yours, 

H[orace]  B[inney]  W[allace]. 
Phil'a,  18  Feb.,  1850. 

This  advice  was  folloed,  and  in  addition  to  articles  in  The  Tribune 
on  2  March  and  other  dates,  one  on  Freneau  appeared  in  Graham's  Maga 
zine  for  Sept.  1855.  Respecting  the  copy  of  the  paper  about  which  Mr. 
Wallace  askd,  Griswold  wrote:  "  Freneau  made  oath  to  a  statement  that 
Mr.  Jefferson  did  not  compose  or  suggest  any  of  the  contents  of  his  paper, 
but  in  his  old  age  he  acknowledged  to  Dr.  John  W.  Francis  that  the  secre 
tary  wrote  or  dictated  the  most  offensive  articles  against  Washington  .  .  . 
and  t5  Dr.  James  Mease  he  exhibited  a  file  of  the  *  Gazette '  in  which  what 
were  alleged  to  be  his  contributions  were  marked." 


Boston,  Feb.  19,1850. 
Dear  Ruf  us : 

I  write  a  line  confidentially  t5  ask  at  what  Hotel  I  can  bring  my 
wife  some  time  during  next  month  when  we  shall  visit  New  York  for  a  day 
or  two.  We  intend  to  be  married  about  the  20th  of  March.  .  . 

Very  Truly, 

J.  T.  F[ields]. 

P.  S. — The  little  brevity  touching  your  new  Ed.  which  I  put  int5  the 
Transcript  here  seems  to  be  travelling  about  and  I  read  no  longer  ago  than 
yesterday  in  a  St.  Louis  paper  that  *«  no  man  in  Am [  erica]  stands  higher  at 
the  present  time  than  R.  W.  G.  in  public  estimation." 


HENRY  C:  CAREY.  261 

Boston,  Feb.  20 , 1850. 
Dear  Sir : 

In  a  recent  article  of  yours  on  Jefferson,  you  state  that  Philip 
Freneau  positively  charged  Jefferson  with  the  authorship  of  certain  articles 
in  the  "  National  Gazette,"  and  that  a  file  of  that  paper  existed  in  which 
Jefferson's  articles  had  been  marked  by  Freneau's  own  hand.  I  wish  you 
would  inform  me  of  the  authority  for  this  statemeet,  which  has  so  important 
a  bearing  on  Jefferson's  character  for  truth,  seeing  that  he  wrote  more  than 
once  to  Washington  denying  the  having  anything  to  do  with  any  publication 
whatever  bearing  on  the  policy  of  his  administration.  The  character  of 
Jefferson,  a  subject  I  have  now  in  hand,  is  one  that  needs  all  the  light  that 
can  possibly  be  thrown  upon  it.  Yours,  &c., 

R.  Hildreth. 


Burlington,  March  15,  1850. 
Dear  Sir  [  Griswold  ]  :  .  .  . 

A  rumor  reached  me  last  night  that  I  was  to  be  put  in  nomina 
tion  by  the  anti-monopolists  in  the  Legislature,  for  the  Senate— perhaps  t5 
run  against  Stockton.  Whether  it  will  be  done  or  not,  I  cannot  tell.  The 
idea  has  never  occurred  to  myself,  but  if  I  can  do  anything  towards  defeat 
ing  Stockton,  I  shall  be  glad.  Of  my  own  election,  there  would  be  no 
chance,  for  the  Whig  leaders  hate  me  worse  than  the  Monopolists.  If  it  be 
done,  however,  I  should,  of  course,  like  to  have  as  many  votes  as  possible, 
and  the  appearance  of  your  article  before  the  election  might  do,  and  prob 
ably  would  do,  good.  Prophets,  you  know,  are  honored  in  their  own  coun 
try  td  the  extent  that  they  appear  to  bear  honor  elsewhere.  Think  of  this, 
and  let  me  hear  from  you,  and  oblige  Yours  truly, 

Henry  C.  Carey. 


Mount  Healthy,  March  25, 1850. 
Dear  Sir : 

.  .  .  Well,  how  could  I  hope  that  it  would  be  otherwise.  I  am 
but  a  simple  and  uncultured  girl,  and  am  perhaps  best  off  in  the  shadow  of 
my  native  hills.  Again  I  beg  your  forgiveness,  and  promise  that  I  will  not 
listen  to  my  heart  again— not  in  this  letter,  certainly. 

I  half  envy  you  the  privilege  of  going  abroad.  I  have  sometimes 
hoped  t5  see  something  of  the  great  world  beside  in  dreams,  but  I  never 
shall.  You  must  not,  my  dear  Mr.  Griswold,  flatter  yourself  that  I  look  any 
better  than  my  daguerreotype — it  is  very  correct,  the  expression  not  perfectly 


262  ALICE  CARY. 

so,  perhaps,  as  I  changed  countenance  a  little  during  the  sitting.  I  hardly 
know  how  to  describe  myself  and  am  half  inclined  to  cut  from  the  letter  of 
a  friend  a  description  which  he  tells  me  he  has  just  been  giving  Whittier  of 
me,  for  strange  to  say,  he  has  not  flattered  me.  .  .  I  am  five  feet,  two  inches 
in  height,  not  heavy,  and  not  very  thin,  don't  know  how  much  I  weMgh,  have 
black  eyes,  and  hair  darkly  brown,  am  a  brunette,  and  decidedly  plain,  hav 
ing  seen  my  twenty-ninth  birthday.  .  .  I  am  sometimes  passionately  fervent 
in  piety,  and  sometimes  rebellious  as  the  fallen.  I  love  with  deepest  inten 
sity,  but  do  not  hate,  those  I  do  not  like  I  am  indifferent  to.  .  .  Mr.  Whittier 
kindly  proffers  his  aid  and  assistance  in  the  getting  up  of  the  proposed  work 
— advises  me  not  to  be  in  a  hurry,  which  I  shail  not  be;  strongly  recom 
mends  Ticknor.  .  . 

And  so  you  do  not  like  my  rhymeless  efforts.  The  two  pieces  you 
speak  of  are  in  my  own  opinion  among  the  best  things  I  have  written,  as 
also  in  the  opinion  of  some  whose  judgment  I  value  highly.  I  am  glad  you 
have  told  me  what  you  think.  I  agree  with  you  that  lyrical  composition  is 
my  forte,  if  I  have  any,  but  I  am  accustomed  to  let  my  thought  flow  as  it  will. 
Among  literary  artists  I  have  no  place.  Mr.  Whittier  has  just  favored  me 
with  some  very  good  advice,  I  hope  I  shall  profit  by  it.  He  extends  us  a 
cordial  invitation  to  visit  himself  and  sister  at  Amesbury,  which  I  hope  to  be 
able  to  accept. 

I  am  sensitive  to  a  painful  degree,  and  have  never  had  a  correspond 
ent,  save  yourself,  of  whom  I  could  say  they  have  written  nothing  I  could 
wish  unwritten.  .  . 

You  think  Phoebe  more  grave  than  I.  She  is  less  so.  Her  daguerreo 
type  does  not  do  her  justice.  Her  countenance  in  conversation  is  almost 
mirthful.  She  has  dimples  which  show  themselves  constantly,  is  very  sar 
castic  ( tho'  she  denies  it ) ,  and  enjoys  the  reputation  of  being  a  wit.  She  is 
less  ( sic )  and  younger  than  I.  .  .  Ever  sincerely  yours, 

Alice  Cary. 


Phil'a,  April  2nd,  1850. 
My  dear  Doctor  .  .  . 

I  have  read  your  criticism  on  E.  A.  Poe ;  it  is  terrific,  but  not 
more  so  than  the  moral  aspects  of  your  subject.  In  literary  execution  it 
rivals  the  best  passages  in  Macaulay.  I  knew  something  of  Poe — something 
of  the  unfathomed  gulfs  of  darkness  out  of  which  the  lightning  of  his  genius 
sent  its  scorching  flashes.  .  . 


ARTICLES  ON  POE.  263 

When  you  visit  us  again  you  must  come  and  dine  with  me — my  book 
on  California  is  delayed  by  my  bad  health.    Your  very  sincere  friend, 

Walter  Colton. 


"  In  March,  1850,"  writes  Mr.  J :  H.  Ingram,  "  was  published  in  «  The 
Southern  Literary  Messenger'  ...  a  still  more  dastardly  attack  on  the  dead 
man  than  the  unsavoury  '  Ludwig'  article.  It  had  evidently  been  written 
and  printed  in  hot  haste,  and  was  so  disgraceful  and  cowardly  that  the  edi 
torial  proprietor  of  the  magazine  deemed  it  necessary  to  append  a  short  note 
to  the  effect  that  it  had  been  inserted  during  his  absence.  Who  wrrote  this 
article?  .  .  .  Was  not  this  miscalled  (by  Griswold  )  '  defender'  then,  Gris- 
wold  himself,  or  some  one  acting  under  his  inspiration?" 

Richmond,  2  April,  1850. 
My  dear  Sir  .  .  . 

I  can  scarcely  express  the  mortification  I  felt,  upon  my  return, 
at  finding  in  the  sheets  of  the  forthcoming  Number  of  the  Messenger  the 
coarse  abuse  of  yourself  and  Willis  which  disfigured  the  article  on  Poe.  At 
first  I  ordered  it  suppressed,  at  any  expense,  but  being  informed  that  this 
would  delay  the  number  most  unreasonably,  I  was  compelled  to  send  it  forth 
with  my  personal  disclaimer  by  way  of  amende  honorable.  I  had  indeed 
given  the  writer  of  the  article  [Daniel]  a  carte  blanche  to  say  what  he 
pleased,  but  I  had  not  the  faintest  conception  that  this  freedom  would  have 
been  abused  by  attacks  upon  my  esteemed  friends.  I  am  sure  you  did  me 
the  justice,  before  reading  the  Editorial  Note,  to  suppose  that  I  had  no  hand 
in  the  preparation  of  such  vulgar  and  unmerited  strictures.  The  sentiment 
of  mortification  was  inspired  also  by  the  cruel  treatment  of  poor  Poe  him 
self,  and  I  felt  this  so  keenly  that  I  sent  to  Willis  for  the  Home  Journal  an 
article,  by  an  intimate  friend  of  mine,  tending  to  remove  some  of  the  nettles 
cast  by  my  contributor  on  the  poet's  grave.  .  .  Most  truly  yours, 

Jno.  R.  Thompson. 


Canandaigua,  June  5,  1850. 
Mary  E.  Hewitt,  Dear  Madam : 

I  learn  by  the  papers  that  you  are  about  editing  a  work,  the 
profits  arising  from  the  sale  of  which  are  to  be  applied  towards  the  purchas 
ing  of  a  monument,  in  memory  of  Mrs.  Osgood. 

I  am  well  aware  that  you  will  find  in  others— and  those  who  are  known 
t5  fame — glad  co-operators  in  your  noble  undertaking — but  if  you  have  room 


264  GRISWOLD'S  INJUSTICE. 

for  one  more  contributor,  I  have  a  story  which  I  will  most  gladly  give — for 
there  is  no  other  way  in  which  I  can  aid,  or  express  my  affection  and  admir 
ation  for  a  poetess  whom  I  so  much  wished  to  see  and  to  know.  .  .  I  have 
contributed  a  good  deal  to  the  magazines  as  Caroline  C —  and  mention  this 
as  you  may  perhaps  have  seen  sketches  under  that  signature  in  Graham's 
and  Holden's.  .  .  I  remain,  dear  madame,  Most  respectfully  yours, 

Caroline  Chesebro'. 


61  Federal  St.,  Boston,  June  13  [1850]. 
Mrs.  M.  E.  Hewitt, 

I  thank  you.  dear  Madam,  for  the  kindness  and  promptness  with 
which  you  have  answered  my  note  of  the  6th  inst.  especially  do  I  thank  you 
inasmuch  as  you  inform  me  that  the  cause  of  the  omission  into  which  I, 
with  some  anxiety,  enquired  is  precisely  what  I  believed  it,  and  yet  why  I 
so  believed,  I  can  hardly  tell  except,  that  I  at  times  have  had,  as  by  intuition, 
a  sort  of  weird-like  perception  of  hidden  truths  startling  to  myself !  Still  so 
utterly  and  entirely  a  stranger  as  I  am  to  Mr.  Griswold,  I  cannot  account  for 
the  injustice,  unkindness  and  wrong  which  seems  like  design  with  which  he 
pursues  me.  I  have  no  feelings  of  unkindness  toward  him, — I  have  never 
had, — and  all  I  know  of  him  may  be  told  in  few  words  and  apologize  in 
some  degree  for  my  own  feelings.  Of  the  publication  of  his  (  Female  Poets ' 
I  was  entirely  ignorant  until  it  was  announced  from  the  press.  My  own 
name  was  not  there.  I  secretly  felt,  I  confess,  that  it  should  have  been,  all 
who  knew  me  felt  the  same,  as  I  was  variously  assured.  But  I  did  not  blame 
him,  for  I  presumed  it  was  an  inadvertence,  as  I  was  a  stranger  to  him,  a 
volume  of  Poems  of  290  pp.  I  had  published  having  run  thro'  the  first  edi 
tion  without  ever  requiring  a  notice  from  a  New  York  paper.  I  did  not 
regard  it  then  as  I  have  since,  for  I  did  not  see  the  influence  that  such  an 
omission  would  have  and  has  had  on  my  reputation ;  no — not  on  my  repu 
tation  as  a  poet  but  on  my  claim  to  consideration  as  such,  in  ways  that  I 
cannot  now  mention,  but  which  with  my  extremely  delicate  health  ( for 
thro'  my  life  nothing  but  stern  mental  energy  has  kept  me  out  in  the  world ), 
and  all  too  sensitive  heart,  with  an  irrepressible — shall  I  call  it  Genius? — 
struggling  for  recognition,  if  nothing  more,  despite  my  determined  efforts 
many  a  time  to  tread  it  out  from  my  soul,  I  say  this  influence  under  these 
considerations  has  made  me  often  pause,  and  faint,  and  despair, — and  hon 
estly  pray  heaven  to  avert  from  my  children  the  price  of  this  world-coveted 
gift,  which  for  myself  I  early  craved,  but  which  I  have  learned  to  believe  is 


JANE  E.  LOCKE.  266 

woman's  curse.  Still  pride  and  delicacy  forbade  me  to  complain,  nor  did  I 
ever  speak  of  it  to  my  nearest  friend,  until  many  of  the  very  persons  whose 
names  Mr.  G.  had  included  in  his  book,  expressed  to  me  their  surprise  and 
dissatisfaction  both  verbally  and  by  letter  as  I  can  at  this  moment  show,  at 
what  they  deemed  an  injustice  from  him  to  me.  Even  this  I  felt  it  would 
illy  befit  me  to  complain  of  it,  or  scarcely  to  assent  to  their  words.  But  as 
time  passed  on  I  felt  more  and  more  the  effect ;  as  that  was  taken  for  a 
standard  reference  [  book  ] .  Thus  now  not  quite  a  year  ago  I,  with  a  feeble 
hand  which  I  soon  firmly  expected  would  be  stiffened  and  nerveless  in  the 
grave,  ventured  to  write  to  Mr.  Griswold  [  letter  not  found  by  editor]  for 
the  double  purpose  of  letting  him  know  that  there  was  such  a  person  in 
existence  (  for  I  did  not  know  that  he  had  recognized  the  fact, )  and  to  be 
queath  to  him  a  manuscript  work  of  much  labor  which  I  had  already  pre 
pared  for  publication,  believing  in  case  of  my  decease  that  he  might  make  it 
of  some  consequence  t5  himself  and  to  the  world.  I  at  the  same  time  hinted, 
in  the  gentlest  and  kindest  possible  manner,  at  the  omission  of  my  name  in 
the  "  Poets,"  secretly  hoping  that  when  I  was  dead  he  might  correct  the 
error,  though  never  saying  it  to  him.  But  what  was  my  surprise  to  find  that 
weeks  and  months  passed  away,  and  no  notice  was  taken  of  my  letter,  not  so 
much  as  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  it.  I  had  directed  it  to  Philadelphia 
and,  not  knowing  his  place  of  residence,  I  presumed  my  letter  had  failed  to 
reach  him,  for  I  could  not  believe  he  would  be  so  discourteous  and  unmanly 
as  not  to  make  some  mention  of  it  had  he  received  it,  especially  at  that  time 
when  my  heart  was  burthened  with  sadness  and  anxiety  for  the  only  legacy 
I  could  leave  my  family —  a  humble  poet's  name !  As  you  are  aware  I  par 
tially  recovered  my  health,  came  back  from  the  sepulchre  to  tread  its  weary 
way  again  more  resolutely,  turning  the  torch  of  Genius  downward  but  it 
would  flame  up.  At  length  the  u  Memoirs  of  Edgar  A.  Poe  "  were  published 
by  Mr.  G.,  or  edited  I  should  say,  and  in  the  "  preface"  to  that  terrible 
history  I  noticed  part  of  a  letter  referring  to  an  injustice  done  Mrs.  L. — I 
felt  at  once  confident  that  Mrs.  L.  was  myself  and  the  "  less  than  justice"  in 
Mr.  G.  was  the  omission  I  am  talking  about.  And  I  also  noticed  in  that 
Memoir  the  copy  of  part  of  a  letter  from  Mr.  Poe  to  myself  with  an  impor 
tant  sentence  omitted,  that  is  important  if  any  part  was  permitted  to  be 
published  there.  Not  knowing  whether  Mr.  G.  possessed  any  more  of  that 
letter,  (  for  I  still  have  the  manuscript  in  my  own  possession,  with  his  other 
letters  ),  and  wondering,  if  he  had,  why  he  should  strike  it  out,  I  therefore, 
with  a  caution  not  natural  to  me,  for  I  am  too  confiding  in  my  nature  and  I 


266  JANE  E.   LOCKE. 

think  you  have  here  proof,  again  wrote  to  Mr.  G.,  simply  asking  him  if  in 
the  first  instance  I  was  the  person  referred  to.  and  in  the  second  if  what  was 
there  published  of  the  letter  to  myself  was  all  of  that  letter  in  his  posses 
sion.  I  did  mention  that  I  had  previously  written  to  him  "  and  presumed 
he  did  not  receive  my  letter,"  not  so  much  as  repeating  any  part  of  what  I 
wrote  before  and  from  that  time  to  this  he  has  not  deigned  to  answer  me  a 
word,  tho'  I  directed  my  letter  to  the  care  of  Stringer  &  Townsend. 

Now  I  should  not  feel  grieved  at  the  omission  in  the  "  Memorial "  had 
not  all  this  gone  before,  and  did  I  not  see  that  he  may  in  this  manner  stand 
in  my  way  forever  and  over-rule  my  literary  destiny  for  no  earthly  reason, 
but,  as  it  appears,  to  justify  his  first  error  before  the  public.  It  has  grieved 
me  beyond  expression,  I  may  not  appeal  directly  to  him, — it  would  be  vain, 
and  I  have  no  heart  to  appeal  to  the  kind  public  wTho  have,  so  far  as  they 
might,  in  my  own  case  out-criticised  him.  He  might  have  thought  my  mo 
tives  were  unkind  in  putting  the  enquiries  I  did  relative  to  the  Memoir  of 
Mr.  Poe.  But  he  misjudges  me  if  so,  for  I  wished  simply  to  satisfy  myself 
on  these  points  without  designing  any  harm  to  any.  Could  he  or  you, 
Madam,  know  my  heart,  ever  careful,  and  sparing  the  feelings  of  others  to 
the  very  torture  of  fire  upon  its  own  and  its  exceedingly  weak  and  sensitive 
powers,  he  would  grant  me  kind  consideration,  and  you  forgiveness  for  thus 
wearying  you  with  a  history  that  may  not  in  the  main  interest  yourself.  To 
me  indeed,  tho' I  have  wept,  as  I  have  written,  in  bitterness  of  spirit,  this 
matter  has  but  one  important  feature.  It  is,  as  I  have  said,  already,  that 
unkindness  and  injustice  (for  the  words  of  six  or  eight  of  the  best  names 
he  has  enrolled  in  his  book,  not  to  speak  of  any  others  in  the  reading  public 
warrant  me  in  using  the  term  injustice )  may,  as  in  the  case  of  the  "  Memo 
rial"  [to  Mrs.  Osgood,— a  gift-book  edited  by  Mrs.  Hewitt]  control  my 
loftiest  and  purest  efforts  to  my  own  despair  and  the  utter  disappoint 
ment  of  my  friends.  Again  Dear  Madam,  pardon  me 'for  wearying  you 
with  these  particulars,  but  the  fullness  of  my  heart  compelled  me  to  it,  for 
it  was  a  relief  to  speak  my  grievances.  And  hoping  for  absolution  from 
one  whose  poet  soul  I  am  sure  will  exactly  comprehend  me  and  see  that 
from  the  first  I  did  not  blame  her,  I  remain  Yours  very  truly, 

Jane  E.  Locke. 


Amesbury,  21st  June,  1850. 
My  Dear  fr.  Griswold  : 

I  learn  from  my  friend  F.  W.  Kellogg  that  Alice  and  Phoebe 
Carey,  of  Ohio,  are  on  their  way  to  the  East,  and  would  be  glad  to  see  them 


GRISWOLD  ON  POE.  267 

at  my  place  if  they  come  to  Boston.  Presuming  that  thou  wilt  see  them  in 
N.  Y.  I  have  taken  the  liberty  to  invite  them,  through  thee,  to  call  on  me.  I 
have  been  quite  ill  this  spring  and  my  sister  also  is  an  invalid,  and  we  see 
little  company,  but  I  should  feel  sorry  to  have  the  "sweet  singers"  of  the 
West  so  near  and  not  see  them. 

Dost  ever  come  to  Boston?  I  should  be  very  glad  to  see  thee  at  Ames- 
bury.  I  have  a  pleasant  and  grateful  recollection  of  our  acquaintance  in 
N.  Y.  and  Boston.  I  shall  be  obliged  to  thee  if  thou  wilt  kindly  remember 
me  to  Tuckerman.  I  like  his  last  book  exceedingly,  and  shall  notice  it  soon 
in  the  Era.  Thine  cordially, 

John  G.  Whittier. 


New  York,  Aug.  12,  1850. 
Dear  James  [Fields]  :  .  .  . 

I  am  doing  Poe's  third  volume — the  "  criticisms  "  he  called  them 
— very  remarkable,  and  a  few,  as  Headley,  Mathews,  Mrs.  Ellet,  and  some 
others,  truly  refreshing,  as  you  will  see.  Peace  to  his  manes!  .  .  . 

R.  W.  G. 


New  York,  25th  Sept.  [1850']. 
My  dear  James  [Fields]  : 

I  thank  you  very  heartily  for  that  notice  in  "  The  Bee."  These 
attacks  on  me  for  the  Life  of  Poe  are  certainly  undeserved.  Everybody  who 
knows  anything  about  Poe's  life,  understands  perfectly  well  that  I  have  sup 
pressed  much  more  than  I  have  printed  against  him,  and  the  preface  to 
"  The  Literati "  shows  that  I  was  absolutely  compelled  to  write  what  I  have 
written,  by  the  assaults  of  Graham  and  Neal.  .  . 

R.  W.  G. 

This  statement  will  sound  hily  hypocritical  t6  Messrs.  Gill, 
Ingram,  Morgan,  et  al.,  but  Griswold  is  not  the  only  witness  : — 

"  If  Dr.  Griswold  had  not  been  restrained  by  a  foolish  deli 
cacy,"  wrote  C:  F.  Briggs,  twenty  years  after  Gris  wold's 
death,  "  he  might  have  given  some  startling  evidences  of  the 
utter  contempt  which  the  poet  entertained  for  persons  who 
trustingly  believed  they  were  passionately  beloved  by  him. 
He  could  write  the  tenderest  and  most  touching  letters,  which 
he  would  bedabble  with  real  tears,  as  he  folded  the  paper,  t6 
women  upon  whom  he  had  no  other  designs  than  an  intention 


268  GRISWOLD  ON   POE. 

of  sending  his  wife  or  her  mother  t6  them  t6  solicit  a  loan  of 
$50."  In  1894,  R:  H:  Stoddard  wrote  of  Griswold's  life:— 
"It  was  hotly  assailed  on  all  sides  ; — by  those  who  knew  Poe 
well,  and  knew  how  truthful  the  mirror  of  Dr.  Griswold  was ; — 
by  those  who  knew  Poe  a  little,  and  suddenly  felt  a  great  ad 
miration  for  his  genius,  and  pity  for  his  failings  ; — and  by  those 
wh6  knew  Poe  not  at  all,  and  wh6  were  consequently  the  most 
violent  of  all.  There  was  not  a  biographic  crime  which  was 
not  charged  t6  his  account,  including  the  invention  of  incidents 
which  never  occurred,  and  the  forging  of  documents  which 
happily  are  extant  still,  in  the  hand-writing  of  their  designated 
writers.  .  .  Wh6ever  had  a  grudge  against  Dr.  Griswold, — and 
the  kindly,  good-natured  man  had  made  many  grudges  when  he 
edited  his  "  Poets  of  America," — went  for  him  ...  in  all  possi 
ble  ways  through  which  they  could  get  int6  print."  In  the 
same  year  Prof.  G :  E :  Woodberry  went  on  record  t6  this 
effect :  "  In  writing  a  biography  of  Poe  some  years  ago,  the 
present  writer  had  occasion  t6  investigate  the  charges  made 
against  Griswold.  The  result  was  a  conviction  that  the  docu 
ments  he  quoted  were  genuine,  and  that  the  impressions  he 
gave  of  Poe's  character  and  career  was  just,  while  his  errors 
were  due  t6  Poe's  own  falsehoods.  .  .  As  will  be  seen,  these 
papers  [first  published  in  Aug. -Oct.  1894.]  fully  vindicate 
Griswold's  veracity  in  essentials,  and  sustain  Redfield's  [fav 
orable  ]  view  of  his  temper ;  it  must  also  be  allowed  that,  so 
far  was  he  from  blackening  Poe's  memory,  he  might  easily 
have  made  a  worse  use  of  his  opportunity  had  he  been  actuated 
by  malice.  .  .  It  is  a  gratification  that  such  tardy  justice  can  be 
done  t6  a  man  wh6  has  so  long  been  vilified  .  .  .  without  sound 
critical  grounds." 


Boston,  Nov.  11,  1850. 
Dear  Eufus  .  .  . 

Next  let  me  ask  when  "  The  Memorial"  is  to  come  out,  and  if 
Hawthorne  has  been  paid  lor  his  article.  It  is  important  to  him  just  now  I 
doubt  not.  Next,  I  beg  t5  say,  if  you  would  like  it  I  can  give  you  a  very 


CHIVERS  ON  POE.  269 

sweet  little  poem  by  G.  P.  R.  James  which  he  wrote  in  my  wife's  Album. 
He  told  me  I  might  print  it  where  I  chose.  Of  course  you  being  A.  1.  in  my 
memory  I  ask  you  if  you  would  like  it.  If  you  would  my  wife  shall  copy  it 
and  send  to  you.  Of  course  in  printing  it  you  would  simply  say  it  was  given 
you  by  a  friend,  but  mention  no  names.  .  .  In  haste  but  very  Truly  Yrs., 

J.  T.  F[ields]. 


Monday  noon  [1851  ?] 
[  Alice  Gary  to  Griswold  ]  .  .  . 

I  am  out  of  humor  and  indignant  this  morning — two  or  three 
things  have  made  me  so,  one  of  which  was  a  eulogy  of  three  columns'  length 
in  the  Era,  of  Grace  Greenwood.  Dr.  Bailey  takes  every  occasion  to  praise 
her,  and  me  he  never  notices  and  pays  me  so  little  that  I  am  ashamed  t5 
mention  the  sum.  Of  course  he  has  a  right  to  his  preference,  but  I  wish  to 
attain  a  position  that  will  enable  me  to  ask  more  or  cease  writing  for  him — 
and  I  will  do  it.  .  . 

No.  116  Leonard  St.,  March  28th,  1851. 
Dear  Sir  .  .  . 

If  Poe  ever  left  any  letter  in  which  he  speaks  ill  of  me,  the  fault 
was  his  own — not  mine — and  he  will  have  to  answer  to  God  for  the  injustice. 
He,  no  doubt,  felt  piqued  when  I  accused  him  of  having  stolen  his  "  Raven" 
from  my  Poem  "To  Allegra  Florence  in  Heaven" — which  you  know  he 
did — if  you  know  anything  at  all  about  it.  The  same  is  true  of  his  Lectures 
on  Poetry— besides  many  other  things. 

You  are  very  much  mistaken  if  you  suppose  that  I  endorse  everything 
that  Poe  did.  He  married  the  Venus  Urania  in  early  life;  but  afterwards 
committed  adultery  with  the  Venus  Pandemos.  Yours  truly, 

Thos.  H.  Chivers. 


Hall,  Cooperstown,  Apr.  27,  1851. 
Dear  Sir  : 

I  have  delayed  answering  your  letter  because  I  expected  to  have 
been  in  town  before  this.  I  had  a  fall,  a  day  or  two  since,  owing  to  a  foot's 
slipping.  That  has  prevented  my  travelling,  but  the  ill  effects  are  disappear 
ing,  and  I  hope  to  be  sound,  quoad  that  difficulty,  in  a  day  or  two. 

I  know  of  no  female  on  my  side,  for  your  book.    I  had  a  sister,  she 
[sic]  that  was  killed,  who  was  very  highly  appreciated  and  is  very  gener- 


270  THE  CALAMITIES  OF  AUTHORS. 

ally  known  in  Philadelphia,  but  it  must  have  been  at  a  later  day  than  during 
Washington's  time,— In  Adams'  presidency.  But  Mrs.  Ralph  Izard  is  your 
woman.  She  was  Alice,  daughter  of  Peter  De  Lancey  of  West  Farms  and 
Elizabeth  Colden,  a  daughter  of  Lt.  Gov.  Cadwallader  Colden.  Her  sisters, 
all  distinguished  women,  were  Mrs.  John  Watts,  Mrs.  Thomas  Barclay,  wife 
of  the  late  and  mother  of  the  present  consul,  Mrs.  John  Cox,  the  uncle  ( he, 
I  mean  )  of  the  Beekman. 

Mrs.  Izard  was  a  beauty  and  a  very  elegant  woman.  She  was  with 
her  husband  in  Europe  during  the  Revolution  ( see  her  daughter's,  Mrs. 
Deas'  book  )  and  when  he  was  elected  to  the  first  senate,  accompanied  him 
to  the  seat  of  government.  She  must  have  been  a  very  conspicuous  woman 
there,  as  she  was,  long  after  her  husband's  death,  in  the  society  of  Phila 
delphia. 

Gen.  Izard  was  her  son.  But  all  this  I  can  give  you  by  word  of 
mouth,  I  trust,  next  week.  Adieu. 

J.  Fenimore  Cooper. 

New  York,  April  29th,  1851. 
Rufus  Wilmot  Griswold,  Esqre.,  Dear  Sir: 

With  this  note  you  will  be  handed  my  book ;  accept  it  from  me 
as  a  tribute  to  your  worth.  By  the  sale  of  the  writings  contained  in  it  I  have 
managed  to  support  a  large  family  for  the  last  eighteen  months ;  I  am  now 
starving,  and  if,  through  your  influence,  you  could  get  me  the  situation  even 
of  a  porter  I  would  be  proud  to  fulfil  its  duties ;  I  have  labored  long  and 
vainly  for  a  permanent  stipend,  but  without  success,  for  my  dear  wife  and 
little  children  I  will  accept  of  anything.  I  beg  of  you  therefore  for  their 
sake  to  make  some  exertion  for  me.  I  am  in  dire  want,  and  on  the  "  knees 
of  my  heart "  I  entreat  you ;  if  you  cannot  do  it  for  me,  I  will  not  say  it  was 
because  of  want  of  inclination  but  set  it  down  rather  to  the  numerous  appli 
cants  who  beseige  you  from  hour  to  hour.  Hoping  to  hear  from  you  at  your 
earliest  convenience.  I  am,  Dear  Sir,  Yours  sincerely, 

William  Pembroke  Mulchinock. 


Riverside,  June  10th,  1851. 
Rev.  Rufus  W.  Griswold,  Dear  Sir, 

The  prominent  position  which  you  have  always  occupied  in  the 
literature  of  our  country ;  as  well  as  the  esteem  and  friendship  which  my 
Father  has  so  often  expressed  towards  [  you  ]  embolden  me  to  address  you 
although  I  have  not  the  pleasure  of  your  acquaintance. 


DONALD  G.   MITCHELL.  271 

I  have  been  in  the  habit  for  some  time  of  writing  verses  for  my  own 
amusement  some  of  which,  ( copied  from  the  Missionary,  a  paper  which  I 
used  to  edit)  you  may  have  seen  in  the  newspapers  over  the  signature 
of  "  D." 

I  take  the  liberty  now  of  writing  to  ask  your  advice  with  regard  to  the 
publication  of  such  fugitive  pieces  as  I  may  write  from  time  to  time,  in  ref 
erence  to  receiving  some  remuneration  for  them. 

Hoping  that  you  will  excuse  the  liberty  I  take  in  thus  troubling  you. 
I  remain,  dear  Sir,  Very  Respectfully, 

W.  C.  Doane. 


Norwich,  Conn.,  June  27, 1851. 
Mr.  Townsend,  Sir, 

I  shall  draw  on  you  next  week  for  $200.,  and  I  hope  the  draft 
will  be  duly  honored.  I  shall  probably  not  have  occasion  to  draw  again 
until  the  time  of  settlement  in  November — unless  you  could  meet  a  further 
demand  for  100  or  150  in  August — say  the  20th. 

I  hope  the  Lorgnette  is  selling  well :  As  you  may  wish  to  advertise  a 
"  book  for  the  watering  places,"  I  write  an  advertisement  which  I  think 
would  be  taking. 

"  Book  for  Newport,  Saratoga  and  Sharon."  Whosoever  wishes  to 
find  sketches  of  the  modes  at  the  several  watering  places,  and  portraits  of 
such  famous  characters  as  he  would  like  to  know,  would  do  well  to  provide 
himself  with  a  copy  of  The  LORGNETTE.  The  book  is  specially  commended 
t5  all  belles  who  wish  to  make  a  sensation,  to  all  old  ladies  who  have  not 
lived  out  their  time,  and  to  such  men  about  town  as  wish  to  multiply  their 
triumphs.  They  will  find  in  this  book  a  catalogue  of  all  their  essential  qual 
ities,  with  plain  directions  for  multiplying  their  attractions,  and  for  enlarg 
ing  the  sphere  of  their  action.  The  Fourth  Edition  is  just  issued  in  beautiful 
style,  and  contains  portraits  of  many  distinguished  members  of  refined 
society,  drawn  from  life  by  that  accomplished  physiognomist,  Mr.  Felix 
Darley.  The  price,  $2.50,  is  precisely  what  one  pays  for  a  bottle  of  Lafitte 
at  his  dinner,  and  we  are  confident  that  the  book  will  help  a  man's  digestion, 
better  than  the  wine. 

Please  to  copy  the  advertisement  before  sending  t5  the  paper. 

I  remain  Yours,  etc., 

Don.  G.  Mitchell. 


272  DONALD  G.   MITCHELL. 

[Unknown  to  Griswold.] 

D.  G.  Mitchell  was  born  in  Norwich,  Connecticut,  on  12  April,  1822. 
His  father,  pastor  of  the  Second  Congregational  Church  in  this  town,  and 
ranking  high  for  his  natural  endowments  and  scholarly  acquirements  among 
the  clergy  of  the  State,  was  youngest  son  of  the  Hon.  Stephen  Mix  Mitchell, 
chief  justice  of  our  Supreme  Court,  and  at  one  time  Senator  from  the  State 
in,  1  think,  the  tirst  congress.  S.  M.  M.  was  of  a  Scotch  family,  and  married 
a  daughter  of  Donald  Grant  of  Invernessshire,  Scotland,  who  came  to  this 
country  in  1732.  On  the  mother's  side,  D.  G.  M.  descends  from  Nat.  Shaw 
of  New  London,  Ct.,  Government  agent  during  the  Revolution,  whose  only 
daughter  married  Rev.  Ephraim  Woodbridge.  Nat  Shaw  Woodbridge  was 
the  grandfather  of  D.  G.  M.  He  died  in  1792.  When  D.  G.  M.  was  about 
eight  years  old,  and  absent  from  home,  he  lost  his  father.  He  was  for  six  or 
seven  years  at  the  Ellington  Schools,  entered  Yale  College  in  1837,  gradu 
ated  in  1841.  Allusions  to  school  and  college  are  given  in  the  Reveries  of  a 
Bachelor.  His  mother  died  while  he  was  in  college.  He  had  lost  besides  an 
elder  brother  and  two  sisters.  Although  he  maintained  a  handsome  stand 
ing  as  a  scholar,  his  health  was  very  poor,  and  immediately  on  leaving  college 
he  retired  to  his  farm  in  Salem,  Ct.,  a  part  of  an  estate  that  had  long  been  in 
the  family.  He  spent  a  year  here  hunting  and  fishing  when  health  and 
the  weather  permitted. 

On  coming  of  age  he  assumed  the  management  of  the  farm  which  he 
continued  till  the  autumn  of  1844.  During  this  period  he  rarely  went  off  the 
premises  of  his  own  and  an  adjoining  estate.  He  became  expert  both  in  the 
practice  and  theory  of  agriculture,  for  which  he  still  retains  an  almost 
enthusiastic  liking. 

I  was  much  amused  one  day  last  summer  when  we  had  strolled  into  a 
field  where  mowers  were  at  work,  to  see  their  admiring  looks  at  his  skillful 
wielding  of  a  scythe.  A  stretch  of  stone  fence  that  he  built  entirely  with 
his  own  hands  around  one  of  his  lots,  is  considered  a  model  of  its  kind 
among  the  Salem  farmers.  The  readers  of  the  Lorgnette  and  Reveries  have 
not  seen  Ik  Marvel's  most  finished  work  yet.  Old  Hodges  (  you  will  find 
him  at  the  Carletou  House )  can  tell  you  of  his  acquirements  as  a  sportsman 
with  gun  and  angle.  During  his  farming  period  he  contributed  to  Agricul 
tural  journals,  and  gained  a  prize  offered  by  the  New  York  State  Agricul 
tural  Society  for  a  plan  of  farm  buildings — see  its  vol.  of  Transactions  for 
1842.  He  also  contributed  a  long  article  on  Field  Sports  to  the  North  Amer 
ican  Review.  In  1844  he  went  t5  Europe,  where  he  remained  two  years, 


DONALD  G.   MITCHELL.  273 

walking  through  nearly  every  county  of  England.  Very  much  of  Switzer 
land  and  France  was  also  traversed  on  foot.  The  winter  of  '44-5  was  passed 
in  the  island  of  Jersey,  the  summer  of  1845  in  Scotland,  France  and  Switzer 
land  ;  the  following  winter  was  spent  in  Italy.  In  the  spring  he  came  up 
through  Germany  and  sailed  for  America  in  early  Autumn.  During  all  this 
time  Mr.  M.  corresponded  regularly  on  agricultural  subjects  with  the  Culti 
vator  Newspaper.  On  his  return  he  was  strongly  urged  to  write  an  extend 
ed  work  on  European  Agriculture.  The  following  winter,  '46-7,  was  passed 
in  Virginia,  So.  Carolina,  and  Washington,  whence  he  wrote  letters  to  the 
Courier  and  Inquirer  over  the  signature  of  Ik  Marvel.  The  ensuing  summer 
the  letters  were  continued  from  Saratoga  and  other  parts  of  the  United 
States.  The  Fresh  Gleanings  appeared  from  the  press  of  the  Harpers  this 
summer,  under  the  assumed  name  of  Ik  Marvel.  The  winter  was  passed  in 
a  law  office  at  New  York. 

Here  the  idea  of  the  Lorgnette  first  suggested  itself,  and  an  initial 
chapter  was  prepared  in  the  first  instance  for  the  columns  of  the  Courier  and 
Enquirer,  but  was  afterward  withdrawn.  In  the  spring  of  1848  he  sailed 
again  for  Europe.  He  was  in  London  three  weeks  during  the  Chartist 
troubles,  then  passed  over  to  Paris,  where,  excepting  a  brief  visit  to  Bor 
deaux,  he  stayed  till  the  summer  of  1849.  During  this  visit  he  wrote  largely 
to  the  Courier  and  Enquirer.  On  his  return  he  wrote  the  first  part  of  the 
Battle  Summer,  covering  a  period  prior  to  his  last  visit  to  Paris— the  sequel, 
containing  his  observations  while  on  the  ground,  is  not  yet  published.  The 
ill  success  of  this  last  book  induced  the  attempt  to  mystify  the  public  by  the 
trial  of  a  new  style.  The  Lorgnette  was  accordingly  begun,  as  much  in  jest 
as  earnest,  and  with  no  very  definite  plan  as  to  the  length  of  its  continuance. 
Indeed,  partly  from  original  indifference,  and  partly  from  its  slow  sale  at 
the  outset,  my  friend  twice  determined  to  abandon  it.  He  once  or  twice 
failed  t6  have  the  MS.  ready  in  time  for  the  regular  day  of  publication,  and  I 
do  not  think  he  would  have  written  No.  9  and  onward  but  for  my  urging 
him  to  keep  on.  Up  to  that  time  there  were  not  more  than  half  a  dozen  in 
the  secret.  Others  were  from  time  to  time  made  acquainted  with  or  dis 
covered  it.  But  on  the  publication  of  the  New  Series,  and  indeed  at  the 
close,  there  were  but  very  few  who  knew  who  the  author  was.  D.  G.  M. 
himself  was  not  in  the  city  half  of  the  time,  and  the  different  nos.  were 
written  at  almost  as  many  places.  By  the  way,  we  knew  that  you  knew, 
Dr.,  early  in  May.  Who  told?  or  was  it  by  observation  of  style?  M.'s 
most  intimate  friends  were  as  much  in  the  dark  as  the  rest.  Wherebv  came 


274  LYMAN   C.    DRAPER. 

much  food  for  laughter.  He  does  not  yet  publicly  acknowledge  it  anywhere 
but  it  is  now  so  well  known,  or  rather  understood,  that  his  friends  make  no 
hesitation  of  charging  it  on  him. 

The  publication  of  his  first  Reverie  brought  such  favorable  notices  as 
to  induce  him  to  develop  the  idea  still  further  in  a  book,  and  he  continued 
them  up  to  their  present  shape  while  engaged  upon  the  closing  papers  of  the 
Lorgnette.  It  appeared  about  the  same  time  as  the  second  volume  of  the 
Lorgnette.  He  is  now  busily  engaged  upon  various  literary  enterprises.  Of 
the  nature  of  these,  as  of  his  habits  of  mind  etc.,  I  hardly  feerat  liberty  t5 
speak, — as  I  only  know  of  them  because  of  our  long  and  confidential  inti 
macy.  I  will  say,  however,  that  if  God  gives  him  health  for  the  next  ten 
years,  he  will  at  the  end  of  that  time  show  a  result  of  his  stewardship  that 
will  prove  large  talents  to  have  been  put  out  at  good  usury,  and  which  will 
add  a  new  class  of  readers  to  those  who  admire  either  the  Lorgnette  or  the 
Eeveries.  Neither  of  these  books  gives  his  best  strength.  Works  of  a  lighter 
nature,  on  one  of  which  he  is  already  specially  engaged,  will  occupy  his 
by-time. 


Leverington,  Phil'a  Co.,  Pa.,  July  10, 1851. 
My  Dear  Sir : 

I  send  for  your  acceptance  a  copy  of  Brantz  Mayer's  Address 
on  Logan  and  Cresap,  before  the  Md.  Histl.  Society.  You  will  discover  by 
it,  if  you  find  time  for  its  perusal,  that  1  am  engaged  in  some  border  histori 
cal  and  biographical  researches— and,  God  permitting,  I  hope,  some  of  these 
days,  to  be  able  to  send  you  some  of  my  crude  productions. 

As  you  take  so  much  interest  in  the  present  and  prospective  literature 
of  the  country,  you  may  not  be  uninterested  if  I  specify  somewhat  my  de 
signs.  I  will  briefly  say  that  I  contemplate  a  work  on  the  Life  and  Times 
of  General  George  Rogers  Clark— whSse  old  papers  I  have,  and  a  large  num 
ber  of  whose  old  Indian  fighters  and  contemporaries  I  have  seen,  and  whose 
reminiscences  I  have  fully  noted  : — a  Life  of  Col.  Daniel  Boone— Memoirs  of 
Gen'l  Simon  Kenton— Life  and  Campaigns  of  Gen'l  John  Sevier  of  East 
Tennessee— Life  of  Gen'l  James  Robertson,  with  Sketches  of  the  early  settle 
ment  of  the  Cumberland  country,  now  Middle  Tennessee,— Life  and  Adven 
tures  of  Capt.  Samuel  Brady,  with  Sketches  of  the  Pioneers  and  Border 
Wars  of  the  Upper  Ohio  Valley.— Life  of  Col.  Wm.  Crawford— of  Col.  Wm. 
Whitley— etc.,  etc.  Another  on  the  early  settlement,  Pioneers,  and  Indian 
Wars  of  West  Virginia,— and  yet  another  on  the  Life  and  Adventures  of  the 


LYMAN  C.    DRAPER.  275 

Wetzels,  with  notices  of  the  early  history  of  the  Wheeling  region.  And  I 
half  incline  to  attempt  a  work  on  the  Border  Warfare  of  New  York — or  a 
History  of  the  Senecas,  which  would  cover  the  same  ground.  For  all  these 
works  I  have — or  think  I  have,  a  sufficiency  of  original  materials,  together 
with  a  very  complete  collection  of  border  works,  pamphlets,  magazines, 
newspapers — Pioneer  Manuscript  Journals,  correspondence,  etc.  I  have 
some  20  vols.  of  my  manuscripts  bound — and  I  think  I  have  manuscripts 
enough  when  arranged  and  bound  to  make  some  30  or  40  more.  .  . 

I  may  add,  that  I  am  a  Baptist — and  thus  claim  a  fraternity  of  feeling 
with  and  for  you.  I  have  long  desired  to  make  your  acquaintance,  but  have 
been  restrained  from  obtruding  myself  on  your  notice  from  feelings  of  deli 
cacy.  Beside,  I  have  had  little  time  that  I  could  devote  to  literary  friend 
ships,  having  for  some  fifteen  years,  as  health  would  permit,  been  a  complete 
slave  to  my  border  researches.  The  enclosed  "circular,"  published,  as  you 
will  see,  over  five  years  ago,  will  tend  to  give  you  some  idea  of  my  labors — I 
have  fully  doubled  my  collections  since  its  issue.  .  .  I  remain,  dear  Sir,  your 
friend  and  Christian  brother, 

Lyman  C.  Draper. 

P.  S. — When  I  got  up  my  circular  I  designed  a  single  work — Lives  of 
the  Pioneers:  Since  procuring  the  Clark  papers,  and  greatly  augmenting 
my  collection  otherwise,  I  changed  my  plan,  and  design,  as  already  intimat 
ed,  separate  and  distinct  works,  each  complete  in  itself.  If  I  live  to  com 
plete  this  design,  I  shall  still  hope  to  condense  them  into  a  single  work, 
Lives  of  the  Pioneers  and  a  counterpart  work,  Lives  of  Western  Indians. 
The  work  on  Clark,  with  a  preliminary  sketch  of  the  Aboriginal  occupancy 
of  Kentucky,  and  early  Anglo-American  Explorations  of  the  West,  will 
reach  a  couple  of  thick  octavos — the  other  works  will  be  single  volumes. 
You  see  I  have  a  large  amount  of  labor  laid  out — whether  I  shall  ever  per 
form  it  all,  or  any  considerable  part  of  it,  Time  must  determine.  If  life  and 
health  are  spared  me,  I  hope  my  energy  will  carry  me  through.  Pardon, 
my  dear  Sir,  this  egotism.  .  . 


4  August,  1851. 
My  dear  Dr.  Griswold, 

I  enclose  t5  you  the  lines  of  which  you  write,  "  Stand,  like  an 
anvil,  when  it  is  beaten  upon;"  which,  in  my  case,  have  " more  truth  than 
poetry."  As  is  the  way  with  men,wh5m  kindness  always  emboldens,  I 
suggest,  at  the  suggestion  of  my  two  sons  (  now  both  in  holy  orders  )  that 


276  FIELDS,— COLTON. 

for  "  The  Voice  of  Rama,"  "  The  Waters  of  Marak,"  and  "  The  Christian's 
Death  "  you  substitute  these  or  some  of  them.  With  many  desires  for  your 
prosperity,  and  every  blessing  on  yourself  and  all  you  would  have  blessed r 
I  am  faithfully  your  friend, 

G.  W.  Doane. 


Dear  Sir  ... 

During  my  absence  I  called  at  Toronto  and  spent  a  couple  of 
days  very  agreeably.  I  saw  nearly  all  the  principal  people  and  talked  with 
many  of  them  on  this  subject.  As  a  matter  of  course  Lord  Elgin  was  op 
posed  to  protection,  but  I  was  surprised  to  find  so  little  tendency  towards  it 
among  the  Canadian  members  of  the  government.  They  have  no  idea  of 
improvement  except  in  connection  with  roads  by  which  to  enable  the  pro 
ducer  to  go  to  the  consumer — instead  of  at  once  bringing  the  consumer  to 
him.  With  great  regard,  I  am  Yours  very  truly, 

H.  C.  Carey. 
Burlington,  August  5, 1851. 


Boston,  August  18, 1851. 
My  Dear  Griswold : 

I  have  never  thanked  you  for  your  kind  letter  received  during 
my  wife's  illness.  Since  she  has  passed  away  my  mind  has  not  been  calm 
enough  to  allow  of  my  writing  to  any  of  my  friends.  I  begin  now  to  see 
more  sunlight  through  the  black  clouds  of  affliction  which  have  surrounded 
me.  It  is  a  severe  blow,  Griswold,  to  all  my  hopes  of  happiness,  but  I  make 
strong  efforts  to  think  all  is  Eight.  We  shall  know  all  sooner  or  later.  I 
hope  to  meet  you  before  long.  Till  then  and  always,  dear  Rufus, 

Yours  Sincerely, 

J.  T.  F[ields]. 


August  19, 1851. 
Dear  Griswold  .  .  . 

Cheever  has  made  considerable  of  a  book  out  of>  [Walter]  Col- 
ton's  remains.  He  makes  him  out  one  of  the  finest,  frankest  and  most  gen 
erous  of  men.  This  I  never  thought.  On  the  contrary,  I  thought,  of  all 
men,  he  was  the  last  to  come  directly  to  an  object.  He  would  set  a  trap  to 
catch  anything  when  he  could  secure  it  by  putting  out  his  hand.  There 
was,  as  it  seemed  to  me,  a  petty  strategic  interwoven  with  the  texture  of  his 
mind,  which  spun  itself  out  in  his  every  day  action,  and  fairly  showed 


JAMES  FENIMORE  COOPER.  277 

sometimes  in  the  cock  of  his  eye — ( Inter  nos) —  ...  he  was  a  better  man 
than  many,  but  not  perfect.  I  think  the  range  of  his  mind  direct — the  circle 
it  ran  in,  small.  No  man  ever  did  more  or  got  more  credit  by  a  mere  play  of 
words.  He  had  an  ear  for  the  song  of  words.  The  clatter  of  sentences  was 
the  inspiration  of  his  composition. 

As  an  Alcalde  he  did  himself  more  credit  than  by  all  the  other  parts  of 
his  life.  In  this  office  he  was  doing  well  for  himself,  and  acted  well,  and,  as 
far  as  I  can  see,  justly  for  others.  It  was  this  part,  and  his  conduct  therein 
which  is  the  chief  support  of  his  name,  and  gives  a  chief  respectability  to  all 
of  him  that  goes  before  and  after  it. 

I  think  your  sketch  of  C.  Colton  a  good  one— it  is  discriminating  as  t5 
his  merits— he  has  made  a  great  deal  out  of  a  few  principles  of  common 
sense.  As  a  writer  he  seems  to  have  regarded  the  bulk  more  than  execu 
tion—a  big  book,  with  him,  is  the  same  as  a  great  one.  I  shall  be  glad  t5 
hear  from  you.  Very  truly  your  friend, 

H.  Hooker. 


Cooperstown,  Oct.  2,  1851. 
Dear  Sir ... 

For  my  own  part  I  have  never  doubted  that  my  Father's  posi 
tion  with  another  generation  would  be  higher  than  that  accorded  to  him 
while  he  was  still  among  us ;  but  I  was  scarcely  prepared  for  such  an  imme 
diate  expression  of  public  feeling  with  regard  to  the  loss,  which,  as  Ameri 
cans,  has  fallen  upon  us  all  in  common. 

There  is  no  country,  however  rich  in  talent,  which  can  afford  to  15se 
from  her  ranks  a  man  of  high  genius,  unclouded  integrity,  and  generous 
heart.  Like  his  own  Harvey  Birch,  he  whom  we  mourn,  carried  in  his 
bosom  a  disinterested  love  of  America  none  the  Jess  real  because  too  often 
misunderstood,  and  diligently  belied  by  patriots  of  the  market-place. 

But  those  who  were  pleased  to  traduce  him  are  thoroughly  forgiven : 
the  end  of  the  upright  was  peace. 

You  allude  to  the  affection  he  merited.  Ah,  sir,  there  indeed  he  was 
sorely  misrepresented !  No  man  had  warmer  sympathies,  stronger  affec 
tions,  or  a  more  social  temper.  Yet  with  the  exception  of  those  who  knew 
him  intimately,  he  was  no  doubt  usually  considered  as  a  gloomy,  dis 
appointed  cynic— a  character  wholly  foreign  to  his  nature,  as  you  must  be 
well  aware,  from  your  own  intercourse  with  him.  But  I  shall  be  led  too 
far,  though  less  I  could  not  say. 


278  ALICE  GARY, — Jl  R.  THOMPSON. 

For  your  kind  sympathy  in  the  grief  of  his  family  we  beg  you  will 
receive  our  sincere  acknowledgement.  To  us  the  loss  is  indeed  irreparable. 
He  had  the  respect  and  affection  of  our  whole  hearts.  Believe  me  sir, 

Very  respectfully, 

Susan  Fenimore  Cooper. 


Amesbury,  10th  10th  mo.,  1851. 
My  dear  friend, 

I  was  glad  to  get  thy  note  relative  to  Alice  Carey's  book :  I 
think  very  highly  of  her  genius — I  do  not  think  thou  hast  at  all  overrated 
her.  Some  of  her  prose  pieces  are  unique  in  their  simplicity,  beauty  and 
pathos. 

I  would  be  glad  to  aid  in  the  publication  of  her  volume :  but  am  now 
forbidden  to  write :  indeed  I  have  not  been  able  for  months  to  answer,  even 
briefly,  my  correspondents.  The  cooler  weather  I  trust  will  in  some  degree 
benefit  me,  but  I  cannot  depend  upon  it. 

If  my  opinion,  however,  could  have  any  weight  with  your  public  here 
I  have  no  hesitation  in  saying  that  it  is  not  often  that  so  rich  and  valuable 
material  is  offered  for  an  American  book,  as  might  be  prepared  from  the 
prose  sketches  of  Alice  Carey.  I  am  not  able  to  do  justice  to  her  or  myself, 
now ;  and  on  that  ground  must  decline  writing  a  preface ;  but,  I  do  not  think 
well  of  such  things.  The  public  look  upon  prefaces  of  this  kind  as  an  at 
tempt  to  pass  off,  by  aid  of  a  known  name,  what  otherwise  would  not  pass 
current.  This  would  d5  injustice  t5  such  a  writer  as  Alice  Carey.  She  can 
stand  by  herself,  on  her  own  original  merits.  Let  me  know  if  anything 
which  I  can  do  is  needed  to  facilitate  the  publication.  Very  truly  thy  friend, 

J.  G.  Whittier. 

P.  S.— I  will  call  attention  to  the  proposed  publication  in  some  of  the 
Boston  papers  as  soon  as  I  feel  able  to  send  or  go  there ;  or  what  will  per 
haps  be  better  I  will  notice  it  in  the  Era.  I  think  if  I  were  Alice  I  would 
leave  out  all  poetical  quotations— as  a  general  thing  they  injure  and  weaken 
the  effect  of  her  admirable  prose. 

Miss  Gary  is  almost  as  completely  forgotten  as  the  previous 
generation  of  woman  poets, — Mrs.  Smith,  Mrs.  Osgood,  Mrs. 
Lewis,  etc.  When  she  died,  in  1871,  she  had  already  outlivd 
her  literary  popularity,  such  as  it  was.  Within  tw6  years  of 
their  deaths  '  The  Christian  Union '  wrote  of  the  sisters  : — 


SOUTHERN  AUTHORS.  279 

They  began  early  to  write  verses  which  treated  of  sorrowful  experi 
ences,  of  unrequited  love,  of  painful  illnesses,  of  hopes  and  fears  plaintively 
mingled,  and  of  untimely  deaths.  It  was  linked  sadness  long  drawn  out. 
Tender  regret  and  weak  sentiment  seem  to  us — we  say  it  unwillingly — the 
staple  of  what  they  wrote.  Their  sobbing  lyrics  do  not  melt ; — they  ruffle 
and  vex  us. 

The  elder  sister  wrote  more,  was  better  known  and  her  talent  thought 
to  be  greater  than  the  younger's.  With  this  opinion,  we  cannot  agree.  .  . 
Phoebe  seems  to  have  been  freer  from  false  sentiment,  less  given  to  gentle 
preaching,  and  less  affected  in  style  than  Alice.  .  .  Phoebe  has  a  more  natural, 
a  plainer  tone;  is  far  less  morbid,  and  shows  us  now  and  then  something 
very  like  humor,  of  which  we  find  no  trace  in  her  sister. 


Richmond,  2  December,  1851. 
My  dear  Doctor  .  .  . 

The  Messenger  is  almost  "  gone."  I  look  into  the  future  to  see 
nothing  but  disaster;  my  affairs  are  really  so  much  embarrassed  that  the 
sale  of  my  library  hangs  over  me  like  an  impending  doom,  and  with  no 
coryphaeus  of  the  red-flag  fraternity  like  Keese  to  "knock  down"  my  dar 
lings.  Four  years  of  hard  labor  find  me  in  debt,  my  small  patrimony  ex 
hausted,  and  myself  utterly  unfitted  for  any  sort  of  employment.  I  have 
followed  the  will-o'-the-wisp,  literary  fame,  into  the  morass,  and  it  has  gone 
out,  leaving  me  up  to  the  armpits  in  the  mud.  Eh  bien,  I  snap  my  fingers 
and  whistle  care  down  the  wind !  .  .  . 

Jno.  R.  Thompson. 

P.  S.— I  remark  your  hit  at  me  [  in  "  International" ]  about  "  Injustice 
to  the  South."  Nevertheless  the  fact  is  so,  and  the  "  Scarlet  Letter  "  hailing 
from  Charleston  would  have  lined  portmanteaus.  Why  can't  LegarS  find  a 
publisher?  Depend  upon  it,  if  another  De  Foe  should  emerge  from  the 
pine-barrens  of  Carolina,  with  a  Robinson  Crusoe  under  his  arm,  he  would 
find  an  Edmund  Carll  in  every  back  shop  of  Northern  publication  houses. 
Legar6  is  not  De  Foe,  to  be  sure,  but  if  he  lived  in  New  England  it  would  be 
different.  Why  did  Ik  Marvel's  Reveries,  first  and  second,  excite  no  re 
mark  when  first  published  in  the  Messenger?  Because  the  Messenger  is 
Southern  and  for  no  other  reason  in  the  world.  God  help  us  I 


280  NATHANIEL  HAWTHORNE. 

West  Newton,  Dec'r  15th,  1851. 
My  dear  Sir, 

As  regards  the  proposition  for  twelve  short  tales,  I  shall  not  be 
able  t5  accept  it ;  because  experience  has  taught  me  that  the  thought  and 
trouble,  expended  on  that  kind  of  production,  is  vastly  greater,  in  propor 
tion,  than  what  is  required  for  a  long  story. 

I  doubt  whether  my  romances  would  succeed  in  the  serial  mode  of 
publication ;  lacking,  as  they  certainly  do,  the  variety  of  interest  and  char 
acter  which  seem  to  have  made  the  success  of  other  works,  so  published. 
The  reader  would  inevitably  be  tired  to  death  of  the  one  prominent  idea,  if 
presented  to  him  under  different  aspects  for  a  twelve-month  together.  The 
effect  of  such  a  story,  it  appears  [to]  me,  depends  on  its  being  read  continu 
ously.  If,  on  completion  of  another  work,  it  should  seem  fairly  and  natu 
rally  divisible  into  serial  portions,  I  will  think  further  of  your  proposal. 

I  have  by  me  a  story  which  I  wrote  just  before  leaving  Lenox,  and 
which  I  thought  of  sending  to  Dr.  Bailey  of  the  National  Era,  who  has  offer 
ed  me  $100  for  an  article.  But,  being  somewhat  grotesque  in  its  character, 
and  therefore  not  quite  adapted  to  the  grave  and  sedate  character  of  that 
Journal,  I  hesitate  about  so  doing,  and  will  send  it  to  the  International, 
should  you  wish  it  at  the  price  mentioned.  The  thing  would  make  between 
twenty  and  thirty  of  such  pages  as  Ticknor's  editions  of  my  books — hardly 
long  enough,  I  think,  to  be  broken  into  two  articles  for  your  magazine;  but 
you  might  please  yourself  on  that  point.  I  cannot  afford  it  for  less  than 
$100.  and  would  not  write  another  for  the  same  price.  Very  truly  yours, 

Nath'l  Hawthorne. 


Randolph,  S.  Y.,  December  27th,  1851. 
Rev.  Dr.  Griswold :  .  .  . 

As  you  commenced  your  editorial  career  in  this  county,  at  an 
early  day,  you  may  feel  interested  in  knowing  the  progress  of  the  press  in 
this  region  since  your  departure.  There  are  now  five  papers  printed  in  this 
county,  viz. :  three  in  Ellicottville,  one  at  Lodi  ( now  Gowanda)  and  one  in 
this  place.  R.  H.  Shankland  still  continues  in  the  Republican,  while  Sill, 
his  predecessor  in  that  office,  is  publishing  a  Whig  paper  in  the  same  place. 
The  other  papers  have  been  started  quite  recently.  Olean,  the  name  of 
which  has  been  changed — is  now  growing  very  fast.  Though  never  destined 
to  realize  the  anticipations  of  its  early  settlers,  it  is  yet  bound  to  be  a  place  of 
some  little  importance.  The  Erie  Railroad  has  proved  of  more  benefit  to  it 


C  :  G.  LELAND.  281 

than  the  hopes  formerly  inspired  from  its  being  the  head  of  navigation  of 
the  Ohio  and  its  tributaries. 

This  county  has  grown  very  fast  of  late,  and  will  yet  be  noted  for  its 
resources  and  agricultural  wealth.  It  is  no  longer  known  by  the  name  of 
"  Cold  Cattaraugus."  But  I  am  wearying  you  with  something  in  which  you 
may  feel  no  interest  whatever,  and  I  will  close. 

Begging  pardon  for  obtruding  myself  upon  your  notice,  I  remain, 
Dear  Sir,  Very  truly  yours, 

Chas.  Aldrich. 

London,  January  6,  1852. 
Rufus  W.  Griswold,  Esq.,  Dear  Sir, 

I  duly  received  your  favor  of  the  6th  December,  your  article, 
though  it  necessarily  bore  the  marks  of  the  haste  under  which  it  was  written, 
was  very  acceptable,  and  as  you  will  perceive,  was  printed.  "We  should  be 
glad  of  your  article  on  American  women, providing  you  think  you  can  make 
it  very  amusing ;  the  English  writers  selected  for  the  April  No.  are  for  the 
most  part  of  so  grave  a  cast,  that  we  look  to  America  for  fascinating  matter, 
and  I  trust  I  am  not  mistaken  in  supposing  that  the  Continent  cannot  sup 
ply  it  in  any  form  so  perfect  as  in  that  of  u  American  w^omen."  But  we 
hope  you  will  not  be  too  severe  on  the  "  female  emancipationists,"  and  we 
consider  they  have,  despite  their  eccentricities,  much  sense  and  reason  on 
their  side.  The  dress  question,  i.  e.,  Bloomerism,  gains  many  converts  in 
opinion  here,  by  the  way  in  which  our  ladies  sweep  the  streets  with  their 
silks.  The  article  should  not  be  more  than  24  pages.  Yours  very  truly, 

John  Chapman. 


In  1850,  writes  C  :  G.  Leland  in  his  Memoirs,  "I  went  now 
and  then  t6  New  York,  which  I  liked  better  than  Philadelphia. 
I  was  often  a  guest  of  Mr.  [  R  :  Burleigh  ]  Kimball.  He  intro 
duced  me  t6  Dr.  Rufus  Griswold,  a  strange  character  and  a 
noted  man  of  letters.  He  was,  t6  his  death,  so  uniformly  a 
friend  t6  me,  and  so  untiring  in  his  efforts  t6  aid  me,  that  I 
cannot  find  words  t6  express  his  kindness  nor  the  gratitude 
which  I  feel.  .  .  T6  the  end  of  his  life  I  was  always  with  him  a 
privileged  character,  and  could  take,  if  I  chose,  the  most  ex 
traordinary  liberties,  though  he  was  one  of  the  most  irritable 
and  vindictive  men  I  ever  met,  if  he  fancied  that  he  was  in  any 
way  too  familiarly  treated." 


282  G:  R.   GRAHAM. 

Phil'a,  Jan'y  30, 1852. 
Dear  Doctor : 

I  don't  know  the  first  thing  about  the  editors  of  Arthur's  Ga 
zette,  either  by  sight  or  name,  and  don't  want  to.  I  only  know  that  George 
Graham,  d— n  him !,  and  birds  of  his  feather,  will  throw  mud  at  anybody  or 
anything.  Nor  can  I  imagine  anything  about  any  conversation,  but  suppose 
that  this  is  one  of  the  thousand  filthy  squibs  fired  off  every  week  in  the  stu 
pid  weeklies  of  our  city  at  somebody  on  any  pretence.  May  the  Lord  keep 
me  clear  of  them !  Herewith  I  send  some  Notices,  and  will  dispatch  enough 
on  Monday  to  satisfy  an  ultra  demand  for  German.  .  .  Yours  truly, 

Leland. 

P.  S.  I  had  well  nigh  forgotten  to  state  the  first  thought  with  which 
I  sat  down  to  write,  viz.,  to  thank  you  for  your  kindness  while  with  you  in 
New  York  on  so  many  occasions,  and  to  beg  you  to  give  my  regards  t5 
Stoddard.  .  .  What  do  you  think  of  Graham's  courteous  allusions  to  me? 
D — d  little  did  George  R.  [  Graham  ]  ever  do  towards  helping  me  on  or  out, 
and  now  that  he  finds  me  getting  on,  notwithstanding  I  have  not  received 
the  stamp  of  his  approbation,  voila  the  consequences !  Therefore,  oh  my 
friends,  let  us  drink,  and  come  what  may,  joy  or  grief ,  take  our  wine  cool, 
for  it  doth  greatly  comfort  the  heart.  "  Caro  Dottore,"  as  Don  Pasquale 
says,  when  are  you  coming  on  this  here  way?  Remember  me  to  all  and 
believe  me,  Yours  truly, 

C.  G.  Leland. 


New  York,  Feb.  14, 1852. 
My  dear  Sir.  .  . 

I  like  the  sample  of  Mr.  Hetherwold's  poetry,  which  you  have 
sent  me.  The  sentiments  are  generous,  the  imagery  poetical,  and  the  versi 
fication  sonorous.  Yet  I  doubt  its  success  with  the  public,  if  it  appears  as 
Mr.  Hetherwold's.  I  fully  believe  that  the  best  verses  in  the  world  publish 
ed  in  a  volume  by  an  author  not  yet  known  to  fame,  would  be  inevitably 
neglected.  .  . 

W.  C.  Bryant. 


Diary,  Feb.  22 : — Dined  with  Mr.  Prescott,  whose  daughter  is  about  to 
be  married  to  a  son  of  Abbott  Lawrence,  who  was  present.  Passed  the 
evening  with  George  Ticknor,  at  whose  house  met  the  veterans  of  the  Hist. 
Society— Savage,  Buckingham,  Whipple,  Hudson,  &c. 


PROTECTION  IN  COLLEGES.  283 

Feb.  24:— Busy  with  preparations  for  the  Cooper  demonstration. 

Feb.  25 :— This  evening  the  long  expected  meeting  came  off  at  Metro 
politan  Hall.  Kimball  and  I  went  after  Webster  and  afterward  attended 
him  to  the  Century  Club,  and  about  two  o'clock  down  to  the  Astor.  The 
whole  affair  succeeded  well. 


Dear  Sir.  .  . 

You  have  no  doubt  seen  that  my  old  book  is  being  translated  in 
Italy.  Truth  makes  its  way  by  degrees,  everywhere  except  into  our  col 
leges.  Could  you  not  assist  in  an  effort  to  impress  upon  the  minds  of  the 
Harvard  people  the  necessity  that  exists  for  reconstructing  the  historical  and 
politico-economical  department  by  emancipating  themselves  from  the  do 
minion  of  Ricardo,  Malthus,  and  Old-fogyism?  By  so  doing  you  would  d5 
much  good.  With  great  regard  I  am  Yours  very  truly, 

Henry  C.  Carey. 
Burlington,  Feb.  25,  1852. 


Rome,  Feb.  29, 1852. 
Dear  Griswold, 

I  write  you  a  friendly  letter  herein  enclosed.    You  may  make 
any  extracts  you  choose  from  it.  .  .  Ever  Yrs., 

J.  T.  Fields. 

I  have  written  to  the  author  (  a  friend  of  mine  in  London  )  of  a  new 
Poem  called  '  Verdicts'  which  is  now  going  through  the  press  and  asked  him 
to  send  you  the  early  sheets  at  once  for  the  International.  It  is  capitally 
done  and  in  the  style  of  Lowell's  "  Fable  for  Critics."  The  author's  name  I 
can  not  reveal  as  he  means  to  keep  it  a  secret.  I  have  read  the  Ms.  and 
think  the  idea  a  capital  one. 


Washington,  May  4, 1852. 
My  Dear  Sir : 

Your  letter  found  me  upon  my  back— prostrate  of  Inflamatory 
Rheumatism.  I  have  had  a  long,  weary,  painful  month  of  it,  in  which  I 
have  suffered  almost  everything  but  the  loss  of  my  spirits.  I  am  fairly  out 
again,  now,  however,  and  although  not  yet  well,  am  in  a  fair  way  soon  to 
recover  entirely. 

I  hardly  remember  what  your  letter  contained— for  I  had.  it  enveloped 
immediately  and  sent  off  to  Shreve.  I  d5  recollect,  however,  that  it  was  full 
of  the  right  sort  of  feeling  for  him ;  and  I  take  pleasure  in  saying,  that  I  have 


284  H:  c:  CAREY. 

just  received  a  letter  from  him,  full  of  the  right  sort  of  expressions  as  to 
you.  He  is  a  noble  man,  Mr.  Griswold ;  and  although  "  Drayton"  is  in  sev 
eral  respects  not  worthy  of  him,  it  has  a  great  deal  in  it  that  is  good,  and  I 
want  you  and  him  to  have  a  reciprocal  regard  and  confidence. 

I  had  a  painfully  interesting  letter  from  Alice  [  Cary  ]  written  the 
afternoon  before  she  left  New  York  for  her  home  in  the  West.  I  respect 
Mr.  Hine,  for  many  things  in  his  life  and  character;  but  I  cannot  but  regret 
that  he  should  have  been  so  busy  with  other  matters  as  to  have  left  the 
shafts  that  wounded  a  good  and  sensitive  heart  to  have  been  thrown  by 
others— if  thrown  they  had  to  be,  by  anyone.  I  have  not  yet  answered  her 
letter,  but  shall  so  soon  as  I  feel  able.  .  . 

I  read  in  the  Mirror,  last  night,  your  successful  vindication  of  Alice 
from  the  criticism  of  the  Boston  Transcript,  with  much  pleasure.  To  her 
you  have  certainly  proved  the  "  friend  in  need  "  who  is  "  a  friend  indeed  "... 

Very  Truly  Yours, 

W.  D.  Gallagher. 


Dear  Sir  ... 

My  friend  Smith  ...  is  the  only  man  that  has  made  himself  mas 
ter  of  my  political  economy,  and  is  the  man  that  will  have  to  teach  it  when  I 
pass  off  the  stage.  He  writes  me  that  he  would  greatly  like  to  furnish  for 
the  Westminster  an  "independent"  article  containing  a  full  exposition  of 
the  system,  and  the  question  is,  would  it  be  published?  He  can,  and  will, 
furnish  one  that  will  certainly  interest  the  readers  of  the  Review  as  much  as 
any  other  its  editors  can  give,  and  I  feel  assured  that  they  will  do  well  to 
have  it.  If  it  be  objected  that  protection  enters  into  my  system,  I  would 
remark  that  it  comes  in  only  as  a  consequence  of  previous  error  elsewhere, 
and  as  a  mode  of  bringing  about  freedom  of  trade — and  that  it  is  not  essen 
tially  necessary  ever  to  mention  the  word.  An  exposition  of  the  several 
laws  that  I  have  propounded  for  consideration  would  furnish  matter  suffi 
cient  for  an  article,  leaving  the  readers  to  work  out  protection  or  free  trade 
for  themselves.  Mr.  Smith  understands  this  matter  perfectly.  .  . 

Yours  very  truly, 

Henry  C.  Carey. 
Burlington,  May  13,  1852. 


Dear  Sir.  .  . 

I  agree  with  you  fully  about  Bishop  Doane.    He  has  done  wrong, 
but  he  has  not  filled  his  pockets  by  wrong-doing,  as  our  Railroad  kings  have 


C:   G.  LELAND.  285 

done.    His  fellow  Bishops  would  now  crush  him  after  he  has  done  penance 
by  spending  three  years  in  Purgatory,  but  I  trust  they  will  fail.  .  . 

Yours  truly, 

H.  C.  Carey. 

Burlington,  May  17, 1852. 

The  charge  against  the  bishop  was  that  he  had  diverted  from 
its  legal  use  $250,000.  which  he  controlled  as  trustee.  The 
Tribune  was  unable  to  see  that  this  was  any  the  less  reprehensi 
ble  because  the  person  wh6  committed  the  act  was  a  clergyman, 
and  it  had  a  good  deal  t6  say  on  the  subject  on  the  18th  July 
1849  and  later. 


Burlington,  May  18, 1852. 
Dear  Sir.  .  . 

At  your  suggestion  I  have  read  the  article  in  the  North  Ameri 
can.  It  is  the  veriest  trash  that  is  possible — precisely  the  sort  of  protection 
ist  rubbish  that  convinced  me  many  years  since  that  there  was  no  foundation 
for  protectionist  doctrines.  Hoping  to  see  you,  I  am  Yours  very  truly, 

H.  C.  Carey. 

Diary,  Dec.  8 : — Began  to  edit  Illustrated  News. 

"  The  author  of  '  Gossip  of  the  Century,' "  again  t6  quote 
Mr.  Leland,  "  has  well  remarked  that  *  it  has  been  said  that 
however  quickly  a  clever  lad  may  have  run  up  the  ladder, 
whether  of  fame  or  fortune,  it  will  always  be  found  that  he  was 
lucky  enough  t6  find  some  one  who  put  his  foot  on  the  first 
rung,'  which  is  perfectly  true,  as  I  soon  found,  if  not  in  law, 
at  least  in  literature.  I  went  more  than  once  t6  New  York, 
hoping  t6  obtain  literary  employment.  One  day  Dr.  Rufus 
Griswold  came  t6  me  in  great  excitement.  Mr.  Barnum — the 
great  showman — and  the  Brothers  Beach  were  about  t6  estab 
lish  a  great  illustrated  weekly  newspaper,  and  he  was  t6  be 
the  editor  and  I  the  assistant.  It  is  quite  true  that  he  had 
actually  taken  the  post,  for  which  he  did  not  care  twopence, 
only  t6  provide  a  place  for  me,  and  he  had  tramped  all  over 
New  York  for  hours  in  a  fearful  storm  t6  find  me  and  t6  an 
nounce  the  good  news.  .  . 


286  GRISWOLD  ON  POE. 

Dr.  Griswold  was  always  a  little  "  queer,"  and  I  used  to 
scold  and  reprove  him  for  it.  He  had  got  himself  int6  great 
trouble  by  his  remarks  on  Edgar  A.*Poe.  Mr.  Kimball  and 
others,  wh6  knew  the  Doctor,  believed,  as  I  d6,  that  there  was 
no  deliberate  evil  or  envy  in  those  remarks.  Poe's  best  friends 
told  severe  stories  of  him  in  those  days — me  ipso  teste — and 
Griswold,  naught  extenuating  and  setting  down  naught  in 
malice,  wrote  incautiously  more  than  he  should.  These  are 
the  words  of  another  than  I.  But  when  Griswold  was  attack 
ed,  then  he  became  savage.  One  day  I  found  in  his  desk, 
which  he  had  committed  t6  me,  a  great  number  of  further 
material  collected  to  Poe's  discredit.  I  burnt  it  all  up  at  once, 
and  told  the  Doctor  what  I  had  done,  and  scolded  him  well 
into  the  bargain.  He  took  it  all  very  amiably.  .  .  It  is  a  pity 
that  I  had  not  always  had  the  Doctor  in  hand  — though  I  must 
here  again  repeat  that,  as  regards  Poe,  he  is,  in  my  opinion, 
not  so  much  t6  blame  as  a  score  of  writers  have  made  out." 


[  G :  W :  Curtis  to  Griswold.*  ] 

I  was  born  in  Providence,  R.  I.,  on  the  24th  of  February,  1824. 
My  maternal  grandfather  was  James  Burrill,  Jr.,  a  man  famous  in  the  an 
nals  of  the  State,  wh5  died  at  Washington  in  1821,  while  senator  from  Rhode 
Island,— and  he  had  made  his  mark  in  Congress  by  a  speech  upon  the 
Missouri  Compromise.  My  father,  so  long  as  he  lived  in  the  State,  was  a 
prominent  political  man,— Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  etc.,— 
but  never  so  situated  as  to  be  willing  to  accept  the  nomination  for  governor 
and  for  Congress.  I  lost  my  mother  when  I  was  two  years  old.  She  left 
only  my  elder  brother  and  myself. 

At  six,  I  was  sent  to  school  near  Boston,  in  the  pretty  village  of 
Jamaica  Plain.  I  remained  there  between  four  and  five  years,  had  a  very 
good  time  in  general,  so  far  as  I  remember,  and  was  called  quite  generally 
"  Deacon  "  by  the  boys.  I  returned  to  Providence  upon  the  occasion  of  my 
father's  second  marriage,  and  was  at  school  there  until  he  removed  te  New 
York,  in  the  year  1839.  It  was  during  the  time  between  my  return  from 

*  Copyright,  1894,  by  J.  P.  Walker,  as  part  of  contents  of  Cosmopolitan 
Magazine  for  Oct.  1894. 


G:  w:  CURTIS.  287 

school  and  coming  to  New  York  that  I  made  my  first  essay,  like  everybody 
else,  in  print.  I  sent  an  anonymous  poem  to  the  newspaper,  and  was  so 
frightened  at  seeing  it  in  print  that  I  kept  the  secret  so  closely  that  no  one 
else  knew  it,  nor  knows  it.  I  wrote  several  pieces  in  this  way,  and  sent  one 
or  two  to  the  New  York  American,  all  anonymous,  of  course,  which  were 
duly  printed,  and  dazzled  me. 

When  I  came  to  New  York,  I  was  so  struck  by  the  whirl  of  business 
and  the  high,  dark,  narrow  streets,— especially,  I  remember,  Pine  street,— 
that  I  was  ready  to  abandon  all  my  studies  and  go  into  a  counting-room. 
The  idea  enchanted  me,  and  I  had  no  rest  until  I  persuaded  my  father  to  let 
me  do  it.  So,  for  a  year,  I  was  a  clerk  in  a  German  and  English  importing 
house ;  at  the  end  of  the  year  stepped  nimbly  out  of  it,  nor  ever  wanted  t5 
enter  it  again.  So  great  was  my  distaste  that  I  afterward,  for  a  long  time, 
avoided  all  the  business  parts  of  the  city. 

I  resumed  my  studies  with  tutors,  reading  the  usual  college  course, 
though  not  in  college,  until  I  began,  with  my  brother,  t5  be  interested  in 
Emerson,  Brownson,  and  the  other  Boston  philosophers,  which  interest 
resulted  in  our  going  to  Brook  Farm  in  the  spring  of  1842.  I  was  merely  a 
boarder,  having  made  an  arrangement  of  half  work,  half  pay.  At  Brook 
Farm  I  made  many  of  my  best  friends  and  tried  all  the  asceticisms, — the  no 
meat,  the  long  hair,  the  loose  dress,  etc., — but  was  not  a  proper  member.  I 
left  in  the  autumn  of  1843 ;  I  returned  to  New  York.  But  the  country  life 
had  become  so  fascinating  that  I  was  glad  t5  run  off  to  Concord  with  my 
brother,  in  the  following  spring,  and  to  pass  a  year  there  in  a  farmer's  fam 
ily,  working  hard  upon  the  farm.  It  was  during  this  year  that  I  made 
friends  with  Hawthorne,  and  that  the  club  was  formed  at  Emerson's,  of 
which  I  have  spoken  in  the  "  American  Authors."  I  knew  also,  here, 
Alcott,  Thoreau,  and  Ellery  Channing,  the  poet. 

The  next  year  my  brother  and  I  rented  a  single  room  in  a  farmer's 
house,  and  an  acre  of  his  land.  We  took  the  whole  charge  of  the  land,  ma 
nuring  it,  plowing,  harrowing,  and  planting.  As  we  had  so  little,  we  gave 
it  garden  cultivation,  and  were  well  repaid.  In  the  house  we  lived  like 
Essenes.  I  was  on  the  edge  of  a  wood,  and  the  baker  came  every  day.  We 
had  no  servant,  and,  as  it  was  too  much  trouble  to  cook  meat,  I  lived  entirely 
upon  baked  apples  and  milk,  with  bread  and  biscuit,  and  we  had  a  royally 
jolly  and  free  time,  except  that  our  compassionate  hostess  would  insist  upon 
occasionally  thrusting  in  plates  of  meat  and  vegetables,— but  not  often.  I 
grew  fat  and  hearty  during  these  months,  and  sent  an  occasional  bit  of  verse 


288  G:  w:  CURTIS. 

to  the  Harbinger,  which  was  published  by  my  Brook  Farm  friends.  We 
had  a  good  many  books,  and  I  read  a  great  deal. 

The  next  summer  we  passed  in  Concord,  but  at  the  house  of  an  old 
Brook  Farmer,  whom  we  had  known.  In  the  winter  I  came  home  to  New 
York,  and  we  agreed  to  go  to  Europe  during  the  following  year.  Circum 
stances  detained  my  brother,  but  on  the  1st  day  of  August,  1846, 1  sailed  for 
Marseilles. 

We  arrived  after  a  long,  but  beautiful,  summer  passage.  I  went,  with 
Cranch  and  his  wife,  who  sailed  with  me,  to  Genoa  and  Leghorn,  and  thence 
to  Florence.  The  winter  I  passed  in  Rome,  with  my  brother,  who  came 
afterward ;  the  spring  in  Naples,  the  summer  in  Florence  and  Venice.  I 
was  in  Italy  a  little  more  than  a  year,  then  crossed  into  the  Tyrol,  and  so 
into  Germany.  At  Berlin  I  passed  the  winter  and  was  matriculated  at  the 
university,  where  I  attended  several  courses  of  lectures. 

In  the  spring  of  1848,  when  the  French  revolution  broke  out,  I  was  in 
Berlin,  and  saw  the  famous  fight  of  the  18th  of  March,  in  the  streets.  I 
wrote  home  an  account  of  it,  which  Mr.  Raymond,  then  editor  of  the  Cour 
ier  and  Enquirer,  chanced  to  see  and  obtained  for  publication,  and  imme 
diately  requested  me  to  correspond  regularly  with  that  paper.  I  was  too 
busy  flying  about  Europe  to  promise  to  do  so ;  but  I  wrote  a  few  letters  for 
him,  which  were  published. 

In  the  summer,  in  company  with  my  brother  and  two  others,  I  made  a 
genuine  pedestrian  tour  of  Switzerland ;  in  the  winter  to  Paris,  whence  I 
regularly  corresponded  with  the  Tribune.  The  next  summer  again  into 
Switzerland,  where  I  met  an  old  friend,  who  wished  me  to  go  to  the  East 
with  him  for  the  winter.  I  had  decided  to  pass  the  winter  in  Spain,  but  was 
only  too  glad  to  visit  the  region  of  my  dreams  in  the  society  of  a  friend.  We 
descended  the  Alps  to  Genoa,  went  along  the  coast  to  Leghorn  and  Florence, 
thence  to  Civita  Vecchia,  and  Rome,  which  was  much  changed  from  the 
Rome  I  had  left  by  the  presence  of  the  French,  and,  crossing  over  from 
Naples  to  Palermo,  travelled  through  Sicily,  by  Enna,  to  Catania;  skirted 
Mount  Etna  to  Messina,  and  passed  down  to  Malta.  After  a  few  days  in 
Malta  we  sailed  for  Alexandria,  and  left  Cairo  for  the  tour  of  Upper  Egypt 
and  the  Nile  on  the  22d  of  December,  1849.  We  reached  Cairo,  upon  our 
return,  on  the  26th  of  February,  1850,  and  the  book  was  already  written  in 
my  mind.  I  kept  a  journal  for  some  time,  but  relinquished  it,  and  wrote 
several  of  the  chapters,  just  as  they  now  stand  in  the  book,  but  without  any 
regular  sequence. 


G:  w:  CURTIS.  289 

We  crossed  the  desert  and  went  to  Jerusalem  and  Damascus,  crossed 
the  Lebanon  to  Beyrout,  and  sailed  for  Malta  in  the  early  part  of  May,  1850. 
I  went  to  England  and  staid  with  a  friend  two  months,  and  reached  Boston, 
upon  my  return,  in  August,  1850. 

The  following  autumn  I  wrote  "  Nile  Notes  of  an  Howadji,"  which 
were  published  in  March,  1851.  The  book  was  issued  by  Bentley,  under  an 
arrangement  with  my  publishers,  but  with  a  changed/  title—"  Nile  Notes  by 
a  Traveller."  He  has  since  issued  another  and  cheaper  edition,  and  still 
another  has  been  published,  with  the  true  title,  as  one  of  Vitzitelly's  cheap 
series— a  shilling  book,  with  a  multitude  of  wood-cuts  made  for  the  work. 
During  the  winter  1  was  somewhat  engaged  with  the  Tribune. 

In  the  summer  of  1851  I  went  lotus-eating,  and  wrote  letters,  which 
were  published  in  the  Tribune  under  the  name  of  "  Summer  Notes  of  a 
Howadji."  They  were  written  at  the  various  spots.  In  the  autumn  I  staid 
in  Providence  and  wrote  "  The  Howadji  in  Syria,"  which  was  thus  written 
after  the  "Lotus-Eating." 

The  following  winter  I  accepted  an  engagement  on  the  Tribune,  and 
remained  there  five  months.  The  most  important  things  I  did  were  the 
critiques  upon  the  Academy  Exhibition. 

'•  The  Howadji  in  Syria"  was  published  in  April,  1852,  and  during  the 
time  I  was  connected  with  the  Tribune  I  revised  the  summer  letters,  which 
were  exquisitely  illustrated  by  my  friend  Kensett,  and  were  published  late 
in  the  summer.  "  The  Howadji  in  Syria"  was  issued  in  London  by  Bentley, 
who  again  changed  the  title  ( I  know  not  by  what  right)  and  called  it  "  The 
Wanderer  in  Syria."  He  also  published  a  pretty  edition  of  the  "  Lotus- 
Eating." 

I  left  the  Tribune  on  the  1st  of  July  and  passed  the  summer  in  New 
port,  and  wrote  only  the  four  articles  for  Putnam's  book  [ "  Homes  of 
American  Authors"  ] — Bancroft,  Longfellow,  Emerson,  and  Hawthorne. 

This  autumn  and  winter  I  have  been  collecting  and  editing  Downing's 
contributions  to  the  Horticulturist,  and  writing  a  preparatory  memoir  of 
him ;  writing  for  Putnam's  Monthly,  of  which  contributions  thus  far  "Our 
Best  Society"  has  made  the  most  stir,  and  am  busy  all  the  time  in  reading 
and  studying  for  a  "  Life  of  Mehemet  Ali,"  which  will  be  ready  as  soon  as 
possible. 

Voila  tout!  and  Shelley  died  when  he  was  no  older  than  I  am. 


290  THE  BOSTON  BARD. 

Dear  Sir : 

Herewith  you  have  a  copy  of  the  book,  sewed,  being  the  first  I 
have  myself  been  able  to  see.  It  has  swelled,  as  you  see,  t5  420  pages,  but  I 
am  in  hopes  that  its  readers  will  not  find  it  too  long,  presenting,  as  it  does,  a 
sort  of  coup  d'oeil  of  the  condition  of  man  throughout  a  large  portion  of  the 
world. 

You  will  find  that  I  have  almost  everywhere  taken  my  facts  from 
Englishmen,  and  among  them  all  there  is  not  one  given  on  the  authority  of 
men  holding  opinions  similar  to  my  own,  while  most  of  them  are  from  peo 
ple  diametrically  opposed  to  me. 

There  is  one  thing  in  relation  to  it  to  which  I  should  be  glad  to  call 
your  attention.  To  a  considerable  extent  it  will  meet  the  approbation  of  our 
friends  of  the  Tribune,  but  that  will  be  a  reason  why  the  Herald  will  be 
likely  to  take  the  opposite  side,  which  I  should  regret,  as  I  am  very  anxious 
the  book  should  circulate  among  Southern  men.  This  might  be  avoided,  if 
both  Journals  could  be  made  to  speak  of  it  at  the  same  time,  and  as  you  see 
Dana  constantly,  you  might  readily  so  arrange  it.  Think  of  this. 

You  will  find  that  I  am  not  of  either  the  slavery  or  anti-slavery  party. 
The  latter  are  right  in  the  object  they  desire  to  obtain,  but  totally  wrong  as 
to  the  mode  by  which  it  is  t5  be  attained.  The  former  are  wrong  as  to  their 
object,  but  the  fault  is  not  with  them,  as  I  have  desired  to  show.  I  am  anx 
ious  that  both  should  read,  and  while  the  Tribune  can  do  much  with  one 
party  the  Herald  can  do  as  much  with  the  other,  for  which  reason  I  should 
be  very  glad  to  have  it  well  noticed  in  both.  .  .  Yours  very  truly, 

H.  C.  Carey. 
Burlington,  Apr.  20, 1853. 


Memphis,  Tenn.,  May  30, 1853. 
Eev.  and  Respected  Sir.  .  . 

I  would  suggest  t5  you  the  collecting  and  editing  of  the  works  of 
an  American  author  of  genius,  and  genius  of  the  kind  hardly  to  be  surpass 
ed  by  that  of  any  other  author  our  own  country  has  produced,  who  is  long 
since  dead,  and  whose  works  ever  since  have  been  "scattered  to  the  four 
winds."  I  refer  t5  Coffin,  the  "Boston  Bard."  The  only  collection  of  any 
of  his  works  that  I  know  of,  was  that  of  a  small  volume  of  his  poems  during 
his  life.  What  he  wrote,  (prose  and  poetry)  was  generally  writte'n  for 
magazines ;  and  has  remained  scattered  ever  since.  He  wrote  some  most 
exquisite  poetry,  as  you  are  probably  aware.  His  "  Sunrise  of  the  Soul"  is 


HOOKER  ON  GUIS  WOLD.  291 

one  of  the  most  beautiful  poems  in  the  language.  His  prose  is  equally  fine. 
His  "Ruins  of  Time"  and  "  Christ  on  Calvary"  for  beauty  of  diction  and 
sublimity  of  language  are  probably  not  to  be  surpassed  in  the  language.  .  . 

It  is  true  that  he  was  an  inebriate,  at  least  occasionally,  and  it  was  his 
great  misfortune,— but  so  was  Edgar  A.  Poe,  and  so,  unfortunately,  have 
been  other  fine  writers.  .  .  Yours,  etc., 

John  R.  Howard. 

P.  S.  I  was  mistaken  in  asserting  that  Coffin,  the  "  Boston  Bard  "  was 
the  author  of  "  Ruins  of  Time"  and  "  Christ  on  Calvary."  In  looking  over 
"  Field's  Scrap-Book »  I  see  that  it  was  the  "  Milford  Bard,"  who  is  the 
author  of  these  two  splendid  prose  articles.  .  . 


Washington,  27th  July,  1853. 
My  dear  Sir,  .  .  . 

The  author  of  the  North  American  article  is  a  little  puffed  up 
man,  who  has  figured  a  good  deal,  lately,  in  New  York  circles,  as  an  archae 
ologist  [according  to  the  index,  the  author  was  Prof.  Bowen,  the  editor]  I 
am  informed  that  he  was  one  of  the  firm  of  Squier  &  Chappell  who  were 
tailors  in  Philadelphia  about  1840.  Yours  most  truly, 

Henry  R.  Schoolcraft. 


Mrs.  Griswold,  Dear  Madam.  .  . 

I  have  just  seen  in  the  Bulletin  of  this  city,  copied  from  a  New 
York  Paper,  a  notice  of  the  dangerous  illness  of  your  husband. 

It  is  not,  it  seems  as  if  it  must  not  be,  that  Mr.  Griswold  is  now  t5 
have  his  last  trial.  A  great  deal  of  sympathy  is  everywhere  felt  for  him. 
He  has  many  friends :  he  has  made  his  mark  on  the  age :  he  has  done  more 
important  service  to  Literature  and  literary  men  than  any  other  man  that 
lives,  or  has  lived  in  the  United  States.  He  lived  in,  and  cultivated  the 
largest  range  of  American  sympathy— with  heart  always  ready  to  make  a 
boast  of  every  gift  in  his  fellow  countrymen  that  could  be  turned  to  any 
account  in  promoting  the  general  credit  and  welfare.  He  is  the  most  re 
markable  man  of  the  times  for  the  number  and  efficiency  of  his  services  and 
gratuities  in  behalf  of  obscure  merit  and  struggling  genius.  In  these  and 
[other  ]  ways  too  numerous  for  me  to  sketch  he  has  enshrined  himself  in  the 
memory  of  genius.  His  monument  will  be  as  enduring  as  the  best  of  the 
works  he  has  stamped  with  his  approbation,  and  many  will  ever  look  t5  him 
as  the  author  and  spring  of  all  the  aspiring  and  credit  they  have.  .  . 


292  PAULDING,— FOSTER. 

Desiring  for  you  and  him  the  best  supports,  I  subscribe  myself  Your 
and  his  earnest  friend, 

H[erman]  Hooker. 
Philadelphia,  Aug.  10th,  1853. 

Mr.  Hooker  was  a  publisher,  chiefly  for  anglican  authors. 


Dear  Sir : 

I  send  you  [for  the  article  in  "Homes  of  American  Authors"  ] 
a  brief  sketch  of  the  scenery  about  us  to  accompany  a  view  of  my  place, 
with  some  few  particulars,  of  which  you  may  make  what  use  you  please, 
either  by  leaving  them  where  they  are,  incorporating  them  with  the  bio 
graphical  notice,  or  omitting  them  altogether.  I  have  an  insuperable  disin 
clination  t5  writing  about  myself,  except  for  the  special  gratification  of  my 
friends,  instead  of  the  public  which,  I  apprehend,  feels  little  interest  in  my 
character,  habits  or  opinions;  but  have  departed  from  my  uniform  course  to 
oblige  Mr.  Putnam  and  yourself. 

I  omitted  to  mention  in  its  proper  place  that  the  name  of  '  Placentia' 
was  given  to  my  residence  long  ago  by  a  former  proprietor  and  has  not  been 
changed.  Yours  very  truly, 

J.  K.  Paulding. 


Dear  Sir  :— 

Your  letter  respecting  G.  G.  Foster  does  honor  to  your  heart, 
and  I  regret  that  the  philanthropic  plan  you  have  proposed  for  his  regener 
ation  is  rendered  impossible  by  the  extent  of  his  crimes.  We  have  know 
ledge  of  feur  distinct  forgeries  of  my  name  to  notes  of  350,  350,  350  and  250 
dollars.  Three  of  them  have  been  cashed,  at  fearful  sacrifices. 

One  of  them  is  now  in  the  hands  of  J.  M.  Smith,  the  newly  elected  Re 
corder  of  New  York.  Foster  has  also  forged  three  notes  of  the  various 
amounts  of  850,  800  and  350  dollars,  on  Mr.  Heyleman  of  Penna. 

I  am  not  his  prosecutor,  but  a  witness.  He  cannot  escape  the  States 
Prison,  I  fear.  Yours  very  truly, 

W.  E.  Burton. 
Chambers  St.,  Jan.  12, 1854. 


New  York,  28th  Jan.,  1854. 
Dear  James  .  .  . 

You  did  not  send  me  "  Mrs.  Mo  watt,"  but  I  have  read  it — with 
some  disappointment.    She  might  have  put  in  so  many  entertaining  remini- 


j.  T:  FIELDS.  293 

scences  of  "  the  old  days  we  remember."  There  are  great  passages  in  "  Pas 
sionflowers,"  but  for  the  most  part  I  agree  with  Whipple  about  the  book. 
Bryant,  (who  is  sitting  forme  to  Elliot)  discoursed  of  it  largely  yesterday 
in  the  main  with  approval.  Tuckerman,  you  know,  wrote  the  notices  in 
Eve.  Post,  Times,  and  Home  Journal,  and  he  has  sent  a  long  reviewal  of  it 
t5  Simms,  for  the  Southern  Quarterly.  [Theodore]  Parker  will  attend  t5 
its  celebration  in  the  Westminster,  I  understand.  Bryant  says  that  it  would 
be  "  preposterous  " — that  was  his  word — to  compare  Mrs.  Howe  with  Alice 
Carey.  He  had  been  looking  over  "  Lyra,"  &c.  with  admiration  and  sur 
prise  at  its  extraordinary  beauties.  .  .  Can't  you  order  some  copies  of  Mrs. 
Hewitt's  Poems,  just  printed  by  Lamport,  Blakeman  &  Son?  It  is  really  a 
charming  book,  full  of  the  best  love  songs  written  by  any  woman  in  this 
country.  The  edition  is  small — only  500 — and  every  cent  of  the  proceeds, 
except  actual  cost  of  production,  goes  to  Mrs.  H[ewitt]  who  needs  money, 
and  is  a  most  admirable  woman.  Yours, 

R.  W.  G. 


Boston,  January  30,  1854. 
My  dear  Rufus : 

Many  thanks  for  your  kind  letter,  just  handed  me,  warm  and 
hearty  from  your  pen.  It  is  now  my  intention  to  be  with  you  this  day  week. 
I  intend,  D.  V.,  to  leave  here  on  Monday  (Feb.  6)  morning  and  arrive  at 
your  door  about  5  or  6  in  the  evening.  Don't  be  blown  up  my  dear  fellow 
about  the  time.  If  you  do  I  shall  not  attempt  N.  Y.  again. 

Would  you  had  been  here  last  evening.  We  dined  Geo.  Curtis;  and 
the  following  order  of  gentlemen  sat  at  table:  [head]  J.  T.  F.;  [right] 
H.  W.  L[ongfellow],  Dwight,  Parker  (H.  T.  P. ),  Hillard,  Reed;  [left] 
W.  D.  Ticknor,  Curtis,  Holmes,  Whipple,  Parsons,  Giles  [foot].  It  seems 
to  me  we  had  a  good  time,  very.  The  dinner  being  given  by  W.  D. 
T[icknor]  &  Co.,  I  was  obliged  to  preside.  I  am  nothing  at  such  things, 
being  of  a  serious  turn  of  mind,  but  I  got  on  after  the  oysters  and  hock  not 
disgracefully.  E.  P.  W.  was  glorious  and  Giles  rampant.  Hillard,  genial  as 
an  Italian  afternoon,  discoursed  of  all  he  had  seen  and  known.  Curtis  was 
fine  and  silvery ;  Holmes  balmy  and  golden.  Longfellow  was  only  kept  from 
another  Evangeline  by  the  potent  spells  of  a  bottle  of  sherry  which  he  held 
flowing  before  him.  Rufus !  thou  shoulds't  have  been  there ! 

But  all  these  things  we  will  prate  of  next  week  when  we  sit  face  t5 


294  G:  G.  FOSTER. 

face.    I  write  now  in  great  haste.    With  best  regards  to  Mrs.  Griswold  and 
all  friends,  Yours  always  most  sincerely, 

J.  T.  F[ields]. 


Moyamensing  Prison,  Feb.  20, 1854. 
My  dear  Griswold — 

It  is  only  today,  through  Dudley  Bean,  that  I  heard  of  your 
magnanimous  offer  to  assist  me  in  my  strait.  His  visit  to  my  cell,  and  your 
kindness,  are  all  the  gleam  of  sunshine  that  has  visited  me,  from  all  those 
who  were  once  my  friends.  My  wife — my  only  real,  legal  wife,  and  the 
noblest  and  most  devoted  of  God's  creatures — has  come  on  to  New  York,  to 
see  what  can  be  done.  I  beg  you  to  see  her,  and  hear  her  explanation  of  my 
situation.  A  very  small  sum  of  money  would  probably  save  me,  and  com 
pletely  change  my  destiny.  I  have  resources  from  which  I  could  soon  repay 
it,  if  I  were  once  free  from  this  place.  I  had  not  thought  of  making  any 
application  to  you,  least  of  all,  who  I  know  have  cause  of  unkind  feeling  to 
me ;  but  as  the  remembrances  of  our  childhood  seem  to  still  hold  a  place  in 
your  heart,  I  venture  to  appeal  to  them.  Listen  to  my  wife,  and  do  what 
you  can,  and  what  your  heart  prompts.  Your  friend  of  many  years, 

G.  G.  Foster. 


New  York,  20th  May,  1854. 
Dear  James : 

I  have  been  very  ill  since  you  were  here  and  am  now  just  "get 
ting  about"  again.  For  four  weeks  I  was  unable  to  leave  my  room.  Now, 
the  only  position  in  which  I  can  write,  on  account  of  the  pain  in  my  side,  is 
that  of  kneeling  beside  the  table.  In  this  way  I  have  succeeded  in  writing  a 
couple  of  hours  today,  and  nearly  as  long  on  Friday  and  Saturday. 

Dr.  Francis  told  me  last  evening  that  Duyckinck's  project  of  a  cheap 
one  vol.  abridgement  of  my  [books  on]  American  Literature  was  viewed 
by  all  the  literary  men  as  a  very  small  business.  A  friend  from  whom  I  get 
at  the  clique's  secrets  told  me  a  few  days  ago  that  Whipple  was  also  to  suffer 
largely  from  this  pilfering.  Scribner  has  bought  and  had  bound  from  them 
a  complete  set  of  [  Whipple's  contributions  to?]  Graham's  Magazine.  .  . 

Yours, 

E.  W.  G. 


F:  w:  THOMAS.  295 

Idlewild,  June—  1854. 
My  dear  Sir,  .  .  . 

I  fear  I  have  nothing  relative  to  Poe,  or  by  him,  relative  to  my 
self.  I  preserve  nothing.  Finding  the  present  hour  always  more  than  I 
have  attention  for,  I  get  rid  of  all  that  is  past  as  expeditiously  as  memory 
will  allow.  My  father,  who  was  here  a  week  ago,  gave  me  some  curious 
facts  as  to  our  descent  from  Puritan  clergymen,  etc.,  etc.,  and  these  I  will 
shape  for  you,  when  my  eyes  are  better.  As  to  Marryat  the  facts  were 
always  correctly  stated,  I  believe,  and  that  is  all  that  is  important.  Any 
particulars  of  the  matter,  I  would  give  you  with  pleasure.  Too  blind  t5 
write  more,  I  remain  Yours  truly, 

N.  P.  Willis. 


Jubilee  College,  Robins'  Nest  Post  Office,  Illinois,  June  1st,  1854. 
Dear  Sir  ... 

I  have  a  good  many  very  interesting  letters  from  Poe.  Interest 
ing  as  expressive  of  his  feelings  and  struggles  rather  than  of  his  opinions. 
Poor  fellow !  some  of  them  written  when  he  was  in  hopes  of  obtaining  an 
office  in  th*e  Custom  House,  Philadelphia ;  which  the  powers  that  then  were 
had  promised  his  friends  for  him.  Some  of  those  letters  are  in  Cincinnati, 
some  here.  By  what  time  do  you  want  them?  Of  course  there  are  portions 
of  them  which  I  ought  not  to  permit  to  be  published,  but  they  certainly  pre 
sent  him  in  a  favorable  light— the  letters  vary.  .  . 

I  am  at  present  occupying  the  chair  of  Rhetoric  in  Jubilee  College,  and 
am  preparing  myself,  in  connection  with  it,  to  take  orders  in  the  Episcopal 
church,  which  I  expect  to  do  in  the  fall  or  spring.  I  would  write  -a  sketch 
of  Poe  but  don't  feel  like  it  now — I  may  do  it  hereafter. 

Will  you  do  me  a  favor?  Last  November  I  sent  to  Putnam  for  his 
Magazine  an  article  entitled  "  How  I  came  to  be  displaced,  and  what  was  the 
result."  .  .  .  Now,  I  think  the  article  one  of  my  best— it  was  descriptive  of 
life  in  Washington  City.  At  any  rate  I  would  not  15se  it.  I  have  no  copy 
of  it.  Will  you  be  so  kind  as  to  call  upon  Putnam  and  get  the  MS.  for  me?  .  .  . 

Can  you  tell  me  anything  of  Charles  Fenno  Hoffman?  I  was  with  him 
in  Washington  when  this  last  visitation  fell  upon  him.  How  I  pitied  him.  .  . 

I  am  truly  your  friend, 

F.  W.  Thomas. 


296  POE  AND  THOMAS. 

Boston,  July  21, 1854.    Mercury  at  365  in  the  shade,  1365  in  the  sun. 
My  dear  Ruf  us : 

I  am  just  putting  my  last  dry  dickey  into  my  carpet-bag  prior  to 
a  run  t5  the  seaside  for  24  hours.  Here  is  your  kind  note  of  yesterday  and 
I  hasten  to  say  "  Glad  to  hear  you  are  better  and  that  hot  weather  agrees 
with  you.  Alice  Carey's  Clovernook  Children  is  the  hands  of  the  stereo- 
typers  and  too  far  advanced  for  alteration.  Don't  send  Leland's  Bk.  We 
have  too  much  on  hand  to  think  of  opening  our  eyes  on  anything  more.  D5 
you  like  my  lines  in  Clarke's  Bk?  And  shall  I  send  an  engraved  head  to 
accompany  them?  This  question  is  nonsense,  of  course,  as  I  have  no  copy 
of  my  phiz  that  I  would  like  to  be  engraved.  Stick  to  cod-liver  oil.  I  know 
several  cases  where  it  has  done  wonders. 

On  Wednesday  I  am  to  poetize  at  Dartmouth.  Pity  me.  I  am  melt 
ing  but  I  am  always 

Yours,  Dear  Rufus, 

J.  T.  F[ields]. 

Boston,  August  11, 1854. 
My  dear  Rufus  .  .  . 

Nothing  new  here.  All  our  friends  are  away  and  scarce  a  famil 
iar  face  dodges  in  at  the  Corner  to  say  "  How  are  you?"  or  "  God  bless  you." 
I  saw  [  R :  B.  ]  Kimball  at  Hanover.  He  is  a  fine  fellow  all  over  and  full  of 
good  things.  He  spoke  of  you  fraternally  and  affectionately. 

Smith  is  engraving  my  phiz !  We  hit  upon  a  portrait  which  is  consid 
ered  so  good  that  people  know  it.  Will  it  be  wanted  for  Clarke's  Bk?  Let 
me  know.  Yours  always,  my  dear  R.  W.  G., 

•J.  T.  F[ields]. 

Jubilee  College,  August  22d,  1854. 
My  dear  Sir  ... 

In  looking  over  the  letters  I  found  so  many  comments  upon  men 
and  things  personal  to  Poe  and  myself,  and  which  I  could  not  with  delicacy 
publish  that  I  did  not  know  what  at  first  to  do.  I  however  have  made  a 
selection  of  the  least  objectional  ones  (for  Poe  wrote  to  me  pretty  much  as 
he  felt  and  had  a  great  deal  to  say  about  individuals )  and  the  most  charac 
teristic.  You  have  the  cream  of  the  letters.  I  several  times  took  up  my 
pen  to  write  you  an  article  upon  Poe,  but  I  found  that  I  could  not  do  it  to 
my  satisfaction.  I  have  appended  two  or  three  explanatory  notes  to  the 
letters — which,  as  you  please,  you  can  publish  or  not,  or  make  just  such  use 


J.   H.   INGRAHAM.  297 

of  them  as  suits  you.  If  there  is  anything  in  the  letters  about  which  you 
wish  any  explanation  let  me  know.  .  .  You  ask  me  if  you  should  say  any 
thing  about  [J.  H.  ]  Ingraham, — as  to  his  defects,  etc.  Ingraham  and  I  in 
our  literary  career  were  very  great  friends — he  once  acted  towards  me 
badly,  but  he  was  sorry  for  it  afterwards  and  I  forgave  him  long  ago.  I  like 
Ingraham.  He  has  talents  ( genius  rather  if  you  make  a  distinction )  and  I 
think  will  be  of  great  usefulness  in  the  church.  Some  of  his  books  are  capi 
tal — "The  Southwest,  by  a  Yankee,"  for  instance.  A  man's  bad  works,  in 
the  literary  or  any  other  line,  being  repented  of,  are  forgiven  by  the  higher 
power;  and  if  he  shows  his  true  repentance  by  emendation  and  example 
(and  particularly,  like  Ingraham,  by  putting  on  the  armour  of  the  Christian 
soldier)  we  should  try  to  forget  them.  So  I  agree  with  what  you  say  of 
speaking  personally  kind  of  him,  and  so  deal  gently  with  him  in  all  re 
gards.  .  .  Very  truly  yours, 

F.  W.  Thomas. 


Ellicott's  Mills,  Sept.  29, 1854. 
My  dear  Sir— 

It  was  a  sincere  gratification  to  me  to  see  your  handwriting  once 
more  in  a  letter.  .  .  I  wrote  a- note  to  Mrs.  MacTavish,  the  daughter  of  Mrs. 
Caton,  for  the  information  you  desired,  and  I  now  enclose  you  her  letter 
[not  found].  I  have  said  to  her  in  badinage  that  as  Mrs.  Carroll  was  not 
yet  off  the  stage  she  might  not  wish  to  be  set  down  as  of  the  Washington 
era — 15  which  in  truth  she  does  not  belong.  She  was  Henrietta  Chew,  a 
younger  sister  of  Mrs.  John  Eager  Howard  of  Baltimore.  Her  husband  was 
Charles  Carroll,  son  of  the  signer  and  brother  of  Mrs.  Caton,  and  Mrs.  Rob 
ert  Goodloe  Harper— of  course  the  uncle  of  Lady  Wellesley,  the  Duchess  of 
Leeds  and  Lady  Stafford — the  three  sisters  who  married  in  England.  Mrs. 
MacTavish  is  another  sister  of  theirs. 

Charles  Carroll  died  before  his  father,  leaving  the  present  Charles 
Carroll,  the  heir  of  Doughoregan  Manor  ( the  old  residence  of  the  Signer  on 
Elk  Ridge — about  five  miles  from  here. )  Charles  is  the  only  son  of  Charles 
the  2nd.  He  has  several  sisters,  Mrs.  Bayard  of  Philadelphia,  Mrs.  John 
Lee  of  this  state,  Mrs.  Jackson,— and  Mrs.  Tucker,  who  is  dead.  These  are 
the  children  of  the  Henrietta  whose  portrait  you  sent  me.  She  was  married 
to  Charles  Carroll  on  the  17th  of  July  1800.  I  suppose  under  20  years  of  age 
at  that  time.  She  is  still  living  in  Philadelphia  with  her  daughter  Mrs.  Bay 
ard,  I  believe. 


298  ALEXANDER  HAMILTON. 

This  is  all  I  suppose  you  wish  to  know.  If  you  desire  more,  Charles 
Carroll  is  my  neighbor  and  would  doubtless  tell  me  anything  of  his  mother 
you  might  require  to  know. 

I  shall  take  great  pleasure  in  your  book  when  it  sees  the  light.  With 
the  kindest  remembrances  and  regard,  Very  truly  yours, 

J.  P.  Kennedy. 


Moyamensing,  March  12, 1855. 
Sir- 
There  was  a  time  when  I  should  have  dared  to  write,  "  my  dear 
Griswold " — there  was  a  time  when  what  I  am  going  humbly  to  beg,  as  a 
last  mercy  to  a  broken-hearted,  helpless  and  friendless  human  being,  I 
should  have  boldly  claimed  of  my  friend — the  companion  of  my  boyhood — 
the  brother,  whose  thoughts,  feelings  and  interests  were  my  own.  That  has 
all  gone  by.  I  am  now  nothing  but  a  poor  creature  standing  on  the  verge  of 
destruction.  I  am  come,  therefore,  to  make  a  last  plea  for  my  life — for  it  is 
my  life  I  am  about  to  ask  of  you :  and  I  have  only  to  show  you  how  you  can 
save  me,  and  then  to  leave  my  fate  in  your  hands. 

The  two  notes  upon  which  the  accusation  against  me  is  founded,  have 
been  provided  for  as  follows :  the  one  in  New  York  by  an  assignment  of  my 
wife's  copyright  of  her  book,  the  "  Ins  and  Outs  of  Paris,"  of  which  I  en 
close  the  announcement,)  the  publisher  having  assured  the  negotiator  of  the 
New  York  note,  of  the  validity  of  the  security  for  the  amount  of  the  claim. 
For  the  $140  claim  against  me  here,  I  have  assigned  the  copyright  of  my 
"  Philadelphia  by  Gas-Light,"  which  abundantly  covers  it. 

And  now  for  my  request.  I  can  get  bail,  and  leave  my  prison,  for 
$200— not  for  a  dollar  less.  Will  you  help  me?"  Yours, 

G.  G.  Foster. 

Dr.  T :  Dunn  English  writes  me  that  Griswold's  efforts  in 
behalf  of  Foster  wer  successful.     He  died  16  April  1856. 


May  27th  [1855.] 

Mrs.  Hamilton's  compliments  to  Mr.  Griswold  and  requests 
him,  if  agreeable,  to  get  from  the  person  the  statement  that  was  made  re 
specting  the  opening  of  General  Hamilton's  drawers  and  examining  his 
papers [;]  also  the  names  of  the  persons  who  employed  him.  This  commun 
ication  is  for  myself,  not  for  the  newspapers,  so  that  he  may  not  have  any 
scruples.  With  great  regard, 

Eliz'th  Hamilton. 


NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW.  299 

Excuse  the  writing  for  I  am  near  ninety.    Direct  to  Mrs.  General 
Hamilton  near  Dobbs'  Ferry. 

Portsmouth,  N.  H.,  Dec.  8,  1855. 
My  dear  Sir  ... 

I  am  sorry  to  say  that  it  is  out  of  my  power  to  offer  anything  like 
an  adequate  compensation  for  such  an  article  as  you  would  furnish.  My 
publishers  pay  my  contributors  at  the  rate  of  one  dollar  per  page  of  original 
matter.  Were  I  deriving  any  actual  income  from  the  review,  I  should  add 
for  articles  such  as  you  propose  something  approaching  a  quantum  meruit; 
but  my  arrangements  are  such  that,  though  with  the  hope  of  ultimate  profit, 
debt  and  embarrassment  are  my  only  editorial  revenue  for  the  present. 
I  am,  my  dear  Sir,  Very  sincerely  yours, 

A.  P.  Peabody. 


Boston,  Mass.,  June  8, 1855. 
My  Dear  Sir  ... 

Let  ,me  take  this  opportunity  to  remind  you  that  one  of  the 
poems  which  you  have  published  as  mine,  beginning  "It  touched  the  earth" 
was  written  by  a  person  of  far  greater  poetic  power — the  late  Mrs.  Dr. 
Hooper  of  this  city — a  lady  whose  verses,  if  they  could  be  printed,  would  be 
seen  to  equal  in  their  peculiar  beauty  almost  anything  we  have  from 
woman's  pen.  Very  truly  yours, 

Jas.  Freeman  Clarke. 

Riverside,  31  July,  1855. 
Dear  Dr.  Griswold : 

Sir  Walter  Scott  used  to  say  that  the  happiest  moment  of  his  life 
was  when  he  put  his  feet  under  his  son's  "  mahogany ;"  I  think  I  am  hap 
pier  in  sending  you  some  of  Willie's  verses.  He  has  it  in  him.  But  he  is 
hard  at  pastoral  work,  and  does  not  cultivate  that  gift. 

Your  faithful  friend, 

G.  W.  Doane. 


Mayor's  Office,  Philadelphia,  Aug.  4, 1855. 
My  dear  Doctor- 
Do  not  believe  me  so  seriously  in  default  as  I  seem  to  be.    Un 
able,  from  my  official  engagements,  t5  hunt  up  the  No.  of  Graham  that  we 
are  in  quest  of,  I  have  set  not  less  than  half  dozen  of  my  men — a  strange 
police  duty !— in  search  of  it.    Their  reports  give  evidence  of  what  lawyers 


300  GRISWOLD'S  PARTIALITY. 

call  a  "  due  and  diligent  search.,"  but  I  have  not  yet  secured  it.  I  have, 
however,  ascertained  positively  that  I  will  be  able  to  send  it  to  you  on 
Monday.  .  . 

I  have  been  strangely  unfortunate  in  my  sincere  wish  to  show  you 
some  attention  while  in  the  City.  My  family  at  our  Country  place,  my  house 
closed,  and  myself  a  sort  of  official  vagabond,  living  as  best  I  may,  I  have 
not  been  able  to  extend  to  you  the  hospitality  which  my  feelings  so  sincerely 
prompt.  You  will,  I  am  sure,  appreciate  these  unfortunate  disabilities,  and 
"  bide  your  time."  .  .  . 

Very  truly  yours, 

R.  T.  Conrad. 


Philadelphia,  Nov.  8, 1855. 
E.  W.  Griswold,  Dear  Sir, 

I  was  surprised  in  looking  over  your  last  edition  of  the  "  Poets 
and  Poetry  of  America,"  to  find  my  name,  which  had  been  noticed  in  a 
former  edition,  entirely  excluded  from  this. 

Of  this  omission  I  suppose  I  have  no  right  to  complain,  as  I  did  not 
ask  you  for  a  niche  in  your  "Temple  of  Fame,"  though  if  my  memory 
serves  me,  I  handed  you  a  volume  of  my  poems. 

Perhaps  I  have  been  too  modest.  I  certainly  never  begged  the  honor, 
or  claimed  it  as  a  right :  and  yet  I  feel  that  an  Author  who  has  been  favor 
ably  noticed  by  the  press,  both  in  England  and  America;  some  of  whose 
poems  have  become  as  familiar  as  Household  words,  and  may  be  found  in 
the  school  Books  of  both  countries ;  and  in  almost  every  catalogue  of  music, 
deserved  that  much  consideration  at  the  hands  of  an  American  in  the  land 
that  gave  him  birth. 

As  you  are  doubtless  aware  of  the  popularity  of  some  of  my  poems, 
will  you  be  kind  enough  to  inform  me  why  I  have  been  treated  with  appar 
ent  neglect,  as  I  am  not  conscious  of  having  ever  wronged  you  in  thought, 
word  or  deed.  Very  Respectfully, 

David  Bates. 


Boston,  November  12, 1855. 
Dear  Rufus.  .  . 

I  have  only  today  learned  the  real  reason  why  my  notice  has  not 
appeared  in  the  Transcript.  It  seems  the  Correspondent  of  the  Transcript 
itself  is  an  American  Poet  who  does  not  like  your  notice  of  him  and  so 
Haskell  has  been  instructed  by  him  to  be  chary  of  praise  in  noticing  the  new 
Ed.  I  told  H.  today  what  I  thought  of  the  matter  and  he  is  now  consider- 


C:  G.   LELAND.  301 

ing  whether  he  will  print  my  notice  or  no.  I  dare  say  if  he  does  he  will  add 
something  of  his  own  which  neither  you  or  I  will  like.  At  any  rate  Haskell 
knows  he  will  offend  me  if  he  says  aught  disparaging  to  you. 

In  haste,  Yours  always, 
J.  T.  F[ields]. 

Office  Evening  Bulletin,  [Philadelphia]  Monday,  Nov.  26, 1855. 
Dear  Sir— 

I  am  right  down  vexed  at  your  letter — real  grieved .  I  can  not 
help  admitting  the  justice  and  truth  of  your  remarks,  and  as  you  know  better 
than  I  how  these  things  work,  have  very  poutingly  done  as  you  requested. 
The  fact  is  that  I  never  thought  of  anything  but  of  trying  to  show  as  well  as 
I  could  my  thankfulness  for  the  great  kindness  which  you  have  shown  me 
not  only  in  "Meister  Karl"  but  in  a  great  many  other  things.  And  I  men 
tioned  in  the  dedication  that  you  had  been  the  first  to  notice  it  and  the  first 
to  recommend  it,  because  I  thought  that  it  would  look  as  if  I  had  some  grati 
tude,  and  also  I  must  admit  because  I  thought  that  if  the  public  could  see 
that  you  had  taken  such  an  interest  in  it,  it  would  help  it  along.  I  suppose 
it's  all  right,  but  for  all  that  I  wish  that  the  public  or  "folks"  would  see 
things  as  I  mean  them.  For  I  meant  the  dedication  kindly  and  I  worded  it 
so  as  to  show  that  I  had  an  appreciation  of  what  you  had  done  for  the  book ; 
and  finally  I  don't  believe  that  anybody  who  knows  me  will  accuse  me  of 
any  but  " straight  out"  motives,  and  finally  I  don't  believe  that  anybody  but 
those  who  know  me  personally  will  buy  the  book  any  way.  I  don't  believe 
it's  going  to  have  such  a  h— 1  of  a  sale  (  begging  your  pardon)— particularly 
since  you've  knocked  that  dedication  out  of  it,  which  was  one  of  the  main 
pillars.  It's  some  comfort  anyhow  to  know  that  the  only  way  of  getting  it 
out  is  to  tear  it  out,  for  I  am  cock-sure  that  the  whole  edition  is  printed  by 
now.  That'll  bother  somebody,  and  make  them  swear.  As  for  dedicating 
it  to  anybody  else  it  shan't  be  done.  Nobody  ever  did  so  much  for  it,  and 
if  it  can't  be  dedicated  to  you  why  a  blank  silence  must  express  my  ideas.  .  . 
If,  on  mature  deliberation,  you  have  come  to  the  conclusion  that  Meister 
Karl's  Book  is  a  little  too  rowdy  and  slangy,  you  needn't  be  afraid  to  say  so. 
It  was  for  that  reason  that  my  brother  has  frequently  begged  me  not  to  put 
my  own  name  to  it.  I'll  bet  a  hat  that  if  we  were  in  conversation  you  would 
own  that  to  be  the  true  reason,  and  that  on  mature  reflection  you  have  be 
come  terrified  at  hearing  such  a  profane  affair  nailed  t5  your  name.  .  . 

Yours  very  truly, 

C.  G.  Lelaud. 


302  PHCEBE  CARY. 

Bangor,  Dec.  22, 1855. 
Dear  Fields : 

I  did  not  suspect,  when  reading  the  Traveller's  paragraph  about 
Hiawatha,  that  it  was  to  produce  any  serious  consequences  to  myself.  You 
have  however  seen  the  Tribune's  brutal  attack  upon  me,  in  an  article  on  the 
controversies  educed  by  the  great  epic.  Nothing  more  groundless,  more 
entirely  unprovoked,  ever  appeared  in  print.  I  do  not  know— I  never 
gaw — Mason  and  Brothers ;  and  I  have  no  recollection  of  ever  having  seen 
Mr.  Underwood,  though  it  is  possible  that  I  have  at  some  time  been  intro 
duced  to  him  when  calling  at  Phillips  and  Sampson's.  I  never  expressed  or 
felt  any  dissatisfaction  at  Ripley's  notices  of  my  own  books ;  I  have  never 
accused  him  of  venality ;  and  though  I  have  regarded  his  connections  with 
Harpers,  Derby,  etc.,  as  in  some  sort  a  disqualification  for  his  office  in  the 
Tribune,  I  have  never  said  so  except  as  I  have  assented,  now  and  then  to 
observations  on  the  subject  by  other  parties.  I  believed  Ripley  was  friendly 
to  me,  as  I  was  to  him  and  never  was  more  astounded  than  by  his  wanton 
and  malevolent  libel.  .  . 

K.  W.  G. 

New  York,  Dec.  23rd,  '55. 
My  dear  Friend : 

Though  I  have  always  yet  failed  to  interest  you  personally  when 
here,  and  surrounded  by  friends,  yet  in  your  now  comparative  exile  I  have 
sometimes  thought  that  you  might  send  "  a  wish  or  a  thought  after  me,"  and 
remembering  my  feelinks,  even  welcome  a  letter  if  not  too  tedious;  and 
upon  this  supposition  I  have  acted  tonight.  The  weather  is  so  warm  here 
that  I  am  now  sitting  without  fire,  and  it  has  scarcely  been  colder  yet.  Alice 
and  Elmira,  who  are  both  well,  have  gone  out,  and  my  beau  (of  course  I 
wish  you  to  think  I  have  one )  has  not  yet  come,  so  I  am  "  alone  in  my 
glory,"  and  should  much  better  like  to  have  you  here  than  be  using  this  mis 
erable  apology  for  talking.  .  . 

Of  course  you  have  heard  of  Osgood's  [S.  S.  Osgood,  the  husband  of 
the  poet]  marriage.  Do  you  know  the  age  of  the  lady?  You  have  doubtless 
seen  more  of  the  quarreling  between  the  editors  and  publishers  than  I  have, 
and  the  very  unfair  manner  in  which  you  were  treated  in  the  Tribune.  I 
expect  you  let  "  your  angry  passions  rise."  Did  you  see  the  criticism  on 
Duganne  in  the  last  Putnam,  and  the  various  opinions  of  Hiawatha?  .  .  . 

Your  friend  always, 

Phoebe  Gary. 


THACKERAY  AND  GRISWOLD.  303 

During  Thackeray's  second  visit  t6  this  country  occurred  an 
incident  which  has  been  written  about  to  an  extent  out  of  all 
proportion  t6  its  importance.  Mr.  J :  H.  Ingram  thus  de 
scribes  it :  "  Thackeray,  having  pr6ved  him  a  liar,  told  him 
so  publicly,  and  would  not  touch  his  proffered  hand ;  while 
Dickens  convicted  him  of  fraud,  and  made  his  employers  pay 
for  it." 

Mr.  Ingram's  statement,  as  regards  Dickens,  appears  to 
have  been  founded  on  an  anecdote  told  by  G :  P.  Putnam  t6 
this  effect :  an  agent  was  sent  t6  secure  for  "  The  International 
Magazine"  advance  sheets  of  a  novel  by  Dickens.  The  Har 
pers  also  sent  an  agent,  and  their  man,  understanding  his  bus 
iness  better,  went  t6  the  author,  while  his  rival  wasted  time  in 
trying  t6  negotiate  throu  his  publishers.  The  result  of  the 
failure  of  the  "  International"  people  was  that  their  magazine 
was  stopped. 

Mr.  R :  B.  Kimball  ( in  The  Brooklyn  Magazine,  Oct.  1884) , 
narrates  the  Thackeray  anecdote  more  in  detail :  "  While  I 
was  enjoying  a  conversation  with  Thackeray  ...  at  the  Put 
nam  reception,  in  company  with  several  ladies  and  gentlemen, 
the  conversation  touching  mainly  upon  the  merits  of  American 
and  English  literature  .  .  .  Mr.  Putnam  advanced,  bringing 
Doctor  Griswold  with  him,  wh6m  he  introduced  to  Thackeray. 
The  great  English  novelist,  after  acknowledging  the  introduc 
tion  with  a  certain  degree  of  courtesy,  drew  himself  up  t6  his 
full  height,  and,  with  an  air  of  self-consciousness,  exclaimed : 
'Doctor  Griswold,  I  am  told  that  you  say  I  am  a  snob.  Tell 
me,  d6  I  look  like  a  snob?'  Not  in  the  least  discomposed, 
Doctor  Griswold  looked  his  querist  full  in  the  face  and  replied 
in  his  low,  quiet  tone :  '  Mr.  Thackeray,  I  have  not  as  yet 
printed  my  opinion  of  you.'  This  little  passage  had  the  effect 
of  materially  subsiding  the  conversation  int6  which  we  had 
entered,  presently  becoming  only  moderately  agreeable,  and 
we  all,  I  think,  felt  relieved  when  it  was  brought  to  a  close.  I 
confess  the  incident  left  its  disagreeable  opinion  of  Thackeray 
in  my  mind — so  far  as  a  certain  self-assumption  and  conceit 


304  THACKERAY  AND  GRISWOLD. 

were  concerned — which  a  further  acquaintance  with  him  upon 
subsequent  occasions  did  not  serve  t6  remove." 

Thackera}'  was  a  shining  light,  and  Mr.  Griswold,  in  com 
parison,  but  a  tallo-dip,  but  in  respect  t6  good  manners  there 
was  not  a  corresponding  difference.  This  fact  strikes  one  in 
Mr.  Putnam's  version  ( in  Putnam's  Magazine,  Dec.  1869),  of 
the  scene  more  than  in  Mr.  Kimball's:  "At  one  of  the  little 
gatherings  of  bookmen,  editors  and  artists  at  my  house,  Mr. 
Thackeray  was  talking  with  a  lady  when  Dr.  Rufus  W.  Gris 
wold  came  up  and  asked  me  t6  introduce  him,  which  of  course 
was  done.  Thackeray  bowed  slightly,  and  went  on  talking  t6 
the  lady.  Presently,  the  Doctor  having  slipped  away  for  the 
moment,  the  novelist  said  to  me,  inquiringly,  "  That's  Rufus, 
is  it?"  "Yes,  that's  he."  "He's  been  abusing  me  in  the 
Herald,"  pursued  the  satirist.  "  I've  a  mind  to  charge  him 
with  it."  "  By  all  means,"  I  replied,  "  if  you  are  sure  he  did 
it."  "  Positive."  So  he  stalked  across  t6  the  corner  where 
Griswold  stood,  and  I  observed  him  looking  down  from  his 
six-foot  elevation  on  t6  the  Doctor's  -bald  head  and  glaring  at 
him  in  half-earnest  anger  through  his  glasses,  while  he  pum- 
meled  him  with  his  charge  of  the  Herald  articles.  The  Doctor, 
after  a  while,  escaping,  quoted  him  thus  :  "  Thackeray  came 
and  said  t6  me,  Doctor,  you've  been  writing  ugly  things  about 
me  in  the  Herald, — you  called  me  a  SNOB  ;  do  I  look  like  a 
SNOB?  and  he  drew  himself  up  and  looked  thunder-gusts  at  me." 


Boston,  Jan'y  26,  1856. 
Dr.  Griswold,  Dear  Sir: 

Permit  me  to  recal  to  your  remembrance  our  brief,  but  very 
pleasant  acquaintance  some  twenty  years  since  in  Calais,  Maine.  I  was  then 
in  the  prime  of  life,  and  you  a  boy.  "We  have  changed  positions.  I  am  in 
my  second  childhood — or  near  it,  and  have  watched  your  steady  and  firm 
growth  expand  till  the  whole  nation  takes  note  of  it.  "  Non  equidem  in- 
video,  miror  magis." 

I  have  written  a  book  called  Wolfsden,  and  requested  the  Publishers 
t6  send  you  a  copy.    If  it  has  merit,  your  friendly  judgment  will  d5  it  more 


THE  TUCKER  FAMILY.  305 

than  justice.  If  it  has  none,  you  will  receive  it  not  the  less  kindly  as  an 
expression  of  the  continued  respect  and  good  will  of  an  old  friend — who 
would  have  done  better  if  he  could. 

I  shall  be  particularly  pleased  with  a  line  of  recognition  from  you. 
My  residence  is  at  Oakdale,  Mass.,  though  I  spend  the  winter  in  Boston. 

Yours  truly, 

Daniel  Mann. 


Philadelphia,  Feb.  7, 1856. 
Dear  Sir  ... 

The  prose  works  of  the  late  Judge  Henry  St.  George  Tucker  are 
1.  Commentaries  on  the  Laws  of  Virginia,  2  vols.  2.  Lectures  on  Natural 
Law,  12  mo.  Besides  numerous  essays  in  the  Journals  and  Periodicals  of 
the  day. 

Beverley  Tucker,  his  brother,  wrote :  1.  George  Balcombe,  a  novel, 
2  vols.  2.  The  Partisan  Leader,  a  novel.  3.  A  Treatise  on  the  Constitu 
tion  of  the  U.  S. 

The  works  of  G.  Tucker :  1.  Essays  by  a  Citizen  of  Virginia  on  sub 
jects  of  morals  and  national  topics  [  ?]  1822.  2.  The  Valley  of  Shenandoah. 
Hastily  written  in  two  months  while  riding  from  court  to  court  in  Virginia, 
1824.  3.  Voyage  to  the  Moon,  1827.  4.  Life  of  Jefferson,  1837.  5.  Pro 
gress  of  the  United  States,  1843.  Besides  numerous  contributions  to  peri 
odicals  in  England  and  the  U.  S. 

Both  H.  S.  G.  Tucker  and  his  brother  Beverley  were  Judges  and  both 
natives  of  Virginia.  .  .  I  am  very  respectfully  yours, 

George  Tucker. 


Baltimore,  Feb.  10, 1856. 
My  dear  Sir  ... 

The  book  ['The  Partisan  Leader' ]  is  not  at  all  like  Upshur, 
who,  though  an  abstractionist  of  the  straitest  sect,  was  of  too  temperate  and 
mild  a  constitution  for  such  a  dreary  prophecy.  .  .  With  kind  regards, 

Very  Truly, 

J.  P.  Kennedy. 

Feb.  13, 1856. 
My  dear  Griswold : 

I  have  read  your  review  of  the  [Duyckinck]  Cyclopedia  with 
great  interest,  and  admiration  of  your  industrv,  extensive  knowledge,  and 
energy  of  style.  It  would  be  a  great  loss  to  our  literature,  and  a  great  piece 


306  GRISWOLD  ON  DUYCKINCK. 

of  injustice  to  yourself  t5  permit  such  a  performance  to  perish  in  the  col 
umns  of  an  ephemeral  publication.  By  all  means  put  it  into  book  form.  It 
will  be  well  received,  and  find  a  permanent  place  in  our  repertoire  of  learn 
ing,  which  else  will  never  know  it.  Put  it  at  once  in  the  printer's  hands. 
I  only  regret  that  you  could  not  let  me  use  it  in  the  Times. 

Most  truly  yours, 

C.  F.  Briggs. 


February  21st,  1856. 
Dear  Griswold :  .  .  . 

I  saw  your  notice  of  the  Encyclopedia  in  the  Herald  and  I  never 
saw  a  more  complete  end  made  of  anything.  The  fires  of  the  last  day  could 
not  have  made  a  cleaner  work  of  destruction.  Many  have  read  it  and  admit 
its  incomparable  ability  and  pure  justice.  It  was  known  to  be  yours,  be 
cause  known  no  other  one  could  write  it.  It  ought  to  be  reduced  to  form 
for  a  class  book  on  Style,  History,  and  Literature.  My  wife  has  preserved  it 
for  reference  in  such  like  matters.  If  I  was  the  author  of  the  book  I  should 
want  to  get  into  so  little  a  place  that  no  one  could  find  me,  or  put  my  eyes 
out,  so  that  I  could  see  no  one.  So  much  to  be  said  justly  of  a  book,  and  yet 
that  book  generally  paised  by  the  editors  of  our  papers !  !  !  .  . . 

Your  friend  truly, 

H.  Hooker. 


New  York,  March  28, 1856. 
My  dear  Doctor  .  .  . 

I  congratulate  you  upon  the  termination  of  the  '  proceedings'  to 
which  you  refer.  They,  however,  have  not  changed  my  opinions  in  any 
respect,  as  you  seem  to  more  than  insinuate  in  the  note  before  me ! ... 

[H.  B.]  Wallace  has  paid  you  a  deserved  and  a  delicate  compliment  in 
the  extract  I  have  taken  from  his  book,  and  it  will  shine  upon  you  like  a 
star,  when  all  the  slanders  that  have  assailed  you  have  perished  with  their 
authors  and  have  been  forgotten.  .  . 

I  remain,  my  dear  Doctor,  yours  very  truly, 

Geo.  P.  Morris. 


Philadelphia,  Nov.  22,  '56. 
My  dear  Dr.  Griswold  .  .  . 

We  hope  you  may  change  your  mind  and  write  us  a  great  book, 
one  that  will  make  a  fortune  for  you.    We  expect  t5  pay  Dr.  Kane  $50,000 


LAST  DAYS.  307 

on  the  first  of  January.  We  have  offered  Mr.  Allibone  $10,000  for  his  copy 
right.  We  have  7,000  copies  already  ordered.  Our  first  edition  will  be 
10,000.  With  high  esteem,  Truly  your  obliged  friend, 

George  W.  Childs. 


Boston,  Jan.  26, 1857. 
My  dear  Griswold, 

I  should  have  written  you  long  ago,  t5  ask  after  your  health,  but 
during  several  months  past,  I  have  had  a  lame  hand,  which  is  still  disabled. 
Pray  let  me  hear  from  you.  It  is  an  age  since  I  was  in  New  York,  and  I  get 
no  account  of  you  from  any  friend.  No  one  thinks  of  you  with  more  friend 
ly  interest  than  your  ancient  and  very  sincere  correspondent  and  well 
wisher, 

J.  T.  Fields. 


March  30th,  '57. 
Dear  Doctor. 

It  was  with  the  sincerest  grief  that  I  heard  from  Messrs.  Dins- 
more  and  Bean,  as  they  passed  through  Philadelphia,  that  your  health  was  so 
very  low.  When  I  wrote  you  I  had  in  fact  no  idea  how  sick  you  were  and  I 
have  since  been  grieved  t5  think  that  you  might  possibly  have  found  in  my 
letter  something  which  seemed  like  out  of  time  levity. 

Dear  Sir,  I  trust  from  my  very  heart  and  soul  that  this  will  find  you 
relieved  or  perhaps  better.  I  wish  that  I  could  visit  New  York  and  see  you. 
You  have,  I  know,  many  friends  eager  to  aid  you  but  I  would  gladly  go  on 
anyhow  if  I  thought  that  I  could  be  of  service  t5  you.  You  have  however 
such  miraculous  vitality  and  have  weathered  so  many  severe  attacks  that  I 
continue  to  hope  that  with  the  warm  weather  you  will  be  found  going  about, 
all  right  or  nearly  so. 

Possibly  there  may  be  something  I  could  do  for  you  in  the  literary 
way,  or  in  Graham.  Perhaps  you  will  only  smile  at  the  request  but  I  am  so 
accustomed  to  make  such  offers  and  you  have  so  often  gratified  me  by  giving 
me  some  opportunity  to  oblige  you  that  I  cannot  help  doing  it  now.  .  . 

Graham's  Magazine  is  getting  on— slowly,  very— but  still  advancing. 
I  would  like  to  be  able  t5  give  all  my  time  t5  it.  I  have  found  out  that  by 
editing  such  an  affair  conscientiously  and  properly  one  can  d5  a  great  deal 
towards  improving  the  tone  and  quality  of  popular  writing — that  a  literary 
editor  can  in  fact  d5  as  much  as  several  schoolmasters,  so  far  as  teaching  the 
art  of  writing  is  concerned.  It  is  really  a  matter  of  regret  to  see  that  so 


308  DEATH. 

many  editors  seem  to  care  so  little  for  this,  or  in  fact  for  anything  but  them 
selves.  Dear  Doctor,  I  must  conclude.  I  fear  that  you  are  too  weak  to 
answer  this,  but  I  will  write  again  when  an  opportunity  of  my  sadly  busy 
life  occurs.  With  sincerest  and  best  regards,  hoping  that  you  will  soon  be 
better,  I  remain  Yours  most  respectfully, 

Charles  G.  Leland. 

Dr.  Griswold  died  27th  August  1857.  The  event  was  thus 
chronicled  by  Mr.  Leland  in  Graham's  Magazine : 

"  T6  the  reader  of  our  magazine  his  death  is  a  matter  of  in 
terest,  since  it  was  under  his  care  and  direction  that  it  first 
achieved  a  high  literary  tone  and  rank  and  acquired  authority. 
T6  us  individually,  the  loss  is  that  of  one  of  our  nearest  and 
dearest  friends.  .  .  .  Few  persons  ever  possessed  warmer,  more 
enthusiastic  or  more  steadily  devoted  friends ;  and  amid  the 
many  trials,  changes  and  darker  days  t6  which  the  life  of  the 
purely  literary  man  is  so  liable,  Dr.  Griswold  never  wanted 
those  wh6  pr6ved  themselves  most  truly  attached  t6  him.  As 
a  friend,  no  man  ever  exerted  himself  more  than  Dr.  Griswold, 
and  it  may  be  said  with  the  utmost  truthfulness  that  of  the 
many  literary  passages  of  arms  in  which  he  was  engaged,  a 
striking  proportion  were  inspired  by  a  chivalrous  and  almost 
incredible  spirit  of  devotion  to  the  interests  of  others.  When 
he  thought  it  possible  t6  aid  a  friend  he  would  spare  no  exer 
tion,  and  would  d6  everything  in  the  most  unselfish  and  noble 
spirit.  The  writer  has  had  frequent  and  personal  proof  of 
this,  during  the  course  of  an  intimacy  of  years,  and  can  testify 
t6  the  remarkable  earnestness  with  which  Dr.  Griswold  was 
wont  t6  exert  himself  in  benefiting  a  friend. 

Few  men  ever  lived  wh6,  t6  so  truly  kind  a  heart,  t6  ease  of 
manner,  conversational  ability,  and  genial  humor  .  .  .  added 
such  varied  learning." 


I  N  D  EX. 


NAMES  OF  WRITERS  OP  LETTERS  ARE  PRINTED  IN  SMALL  CAPITALS. 


ALDRICH,  C:,       280 
Allibone,  S.  A.,       307 
Arthur,  T.  S.,       143 
Authors,  memorials  of,        203 

,  'names,'        239 

,  vanity,        126 

in  England,  see  Carlyle,  Cook, 

Lytton,  Thackeray 

in    United-States    [see    Maga 
zines,  Literature],        161-63 

,  amenities,       173 

,  pay,        231        269 

,  women,      "224    243     276 

,  New-England,        121 

,  New- York,  214    216    233 

Philadelphia,        143 

,  Southern,       279 

BAIRD,  H:C.,       245 

BALM  ANNO,  E.,       104 
BATES,  D :,       300 
BEACH,  S:B.,       64 
Benjamin,  Park,        8        16-18       31 
56        112        173        203 

,  LETTERS,       56        100 

Bennett,  Ja.  G.,        14 

Beranger,        146 

Bishops  of  anglican  church,  164    284 

Bogart,  Miss,       214       216 

Books,  see  Literary-Criticism 

pay  for,        110 

,  reprints  of,       14 

Boston  Bard,        290 

Miscellany,    97        112       205 

Notion,       31        65        97 

Transcript,        102       300 


Bowe,  O.  A.  [t,  20  March  1859]     62 

,    LETTERS,     16    19    21    23    24 

BRIGGS,  C:F:,    226    240     257     305 
Brisbane,  A.,       53       56 
Brook-Farm,       287 
Brooks,  Maria,       224 

,       LETTER,        148 

Brown,  C:B.,        186 

,         James,        10 

Bryant,  W:C.,    115;       works,      50 

,         LETTERS,        158        282 

Bulwer,  SirH:,       258 
Burke,  Edmund,       229 
Burleigh,  W:H.,       95 
BURTON,  W:  E.,       90       292 
Butler,  B  :  F.,        47 
Butler,  M.  B.,        14 
Byron,  major,       47 
CALHOUN,  J:  C.,       222 
California  in  1849,       253 
Canada,  insurrection  in,        18 
CAREY  &  HART,       231-2       259 

,      H:C.,      261    276    283-5    290 

,      Mathew,       68 

CARLYLE,  T:,  183 
Carroll  family,  297 
CARY,  ALICE,  239  249  261  269; 

works,       278 
,     Phoebe,       279 

,       LETTER,  302 

CHAPMAN,  J:,       281 

CHESEBRO,  C.,       264 

CHILD,  LYDIA  M.,       142 

CHILDS,  G:W.,       306 

Clark,  L:G.,    82    119      quoted,    63 


INDEX. 


CLARKE,  JA.  F.,    299 
Clay,  H  :,     236         on  slavery,        19 
21-24       26 

-  ,       LETTERS,          21          238 

College-graduates,  Greeley  on,   57-58 
COLTON,  G:H.,        158 

-  ,  Walter,       276 

-  ,  LETTER,          262 

Combe,  G:,        30 

Congdon,  C:  T.,    215;      quoted,    65 

Conrad,  R.  T.,        H3 

-  ,  LETTER,          299 

COOK,  ELIZA,      '156 
195 
190-97 
114       269 


277; 


COOKE,  J  :  E., 

-  ,  PH.  P., 
COOPER,  JA.  F., 

works,        154 
Copyright,    138;    international,    178 

183        222        241 
CORWIN,  T:,       237 
Curtis,  G:W:,       293       quoted,    74 

-  ,  LETTER,        286 
Dana,  R:H:,        118 
Democratic  Review,        123 
Dial,        46 

Dinnies,  Anna  P.,       66 
--       ,  LETTER,        154 
Doane,  G  :  W.,        284 
--     ,  LETTERS,       275       299 
299 

270 

274 
13 

Duyckinck,  E.  A.,  works,  294    305-6 
Ellet,E..F.,     102     213    233     243-5 

247       256 

Elliott,  J.  D.,        136 
Emerson,  R.  W.,       167 

--  ,  LETTER,          98 

English,  T:  D.,       51        quoted,    89 

122        198 

EVEREST,  C:W.,       27 
Fairchild,  S.  L.,        143 
Falconer,  W.,       59 
Felton,  C.  C.,  quoted,        176 


DOANE,  W:C., 

-        ,  LETTER, 

Draper,  Lyman  C. 
DUANE,  W:J:, 


FIELDS,  JA.  T:,  94  97  103 
142  151  159  172  219 
230  235  242  248  250 
268  276 

,  wife,      160    172    250    260    276 

Forster,  J:,        151 

Foster,  G:G.,        7        184       292 

,  LETTERS,        294        298 

Fourierism,       53-6 

Francis,  J:  W.,        217 

Freneau,  Ph.,        185       260 

FULLER,  HIRAM,       137 

,  Margaret,  163  166  203-4 

208  224 

Gaines,E.  P.,   232 

GALLAGHER,  W:  D.,       95       283 

Gillespie,  W:M.,       217 

GOBRIGHT,  L.  A.,          145 

Goodrich,  S  :  G.,        17 

Gosse,  Edwin,  quoted,       89 

Gove,  M. . ,        214 

Graham,  G:R.,       36        134       282 

,  LETTERS,          106          134 

Graham's  Magazine,     36      117     119 

126        138        307 
Greeley,  Horace,  6    22    24-6    28    38 

51    63    quoted,  235    on  socialism, 

53       53       61        wife,    26       59 
,  LETTERS,     25    37-8     47-54    58 

62     92        94        9 

106-7       112      132 


101-2 


134 


103-4 
142 

146  163  166  184  186-7  204  206 
212  221  223  226  248 

Greenwood,  Grace,       269 

Griswold,Rufus  W.,  5  10  14 
20  in  Vermont,  24  27  on 
slavery,  16  21  in  N.-Y.,  29 
recollections  of,  in  1840,  36  in 
Phil'a,  47  55  58  102  106 
habits,  153  235  enemies, 
199  248  268  death,  308 

f  wife,        15        19        125 

,  compilations  of  U.S.  liter 
ature,  23  87  92  221  223 
246  248  291  partiality, 
264-6  300  other  works,  230- 


INDEX. 


31        as  editor  of  Graham's,       36 
106        117        133        158 
,  opinion  on  of  R.  Balmanno, 

103  of  T:   D.English,  89       of 
J.  L.  Gilder,  89        of  E.  Gosse,  89 
of  H.  Greeley,  51        of  H.  Hooker, 
291        of  J :  H.  Ingram,    91        158 
262    303    of  C  :  G.  Leland,  281   308 
of  H:  Morford,     36        of  G:  P. 
Morris,    306       of  F. .  S.  Osgood, 
216        218        of  E.  A.  Poe,      120-1 
125       of  R :  H  :  Stoddard,  88        of 
T:  W.  White,     47         of  G:    E: 
Woodberry,    268 

,  LETTERS,    37    292    294    302 

Griswold,  S.  P.,    18        39       124 
HAMILTON,  MRS.  ALEX.,       298 
Hammond,  C :,        68 
Harper  &  Bros.,        14 
Hawthorne,  Julian,  quoted,        207 
Hawthorne,  Nathaniel,        257       268 

,  LETTERS,          144          280 

Headley,  J.  T.,        231-2 

,  LETTERS,          209-10 

Hedge,  F:H:,        113 

HERBERT,  H:  W:,    70       125       128 

HEWITT  [STEBBINS],  MARY  E.,214 

HILDRETH,  R:,        261 

HILLARD,  G:S.,        128 

HIRST,  H:B.,       254 

Hoffman,  C:F.,  37       66       72        74 

104  250        295 

,  LETTERS,         104        129        138 

144        149        153-4        160-1         166 
185-6       189       202 
HOLMES,  OLIVER  W.,        146       220 
HOOKER,  HERMAN,       291       306 
Hooper,  mrs.,       299 
Hudson,  H:N.,        167        228 
Ingraham,  Joseph  H.,    225        297 
Ingram,  J :  H.,  see  Griswold 
Inman,  J  :.  quoted,        108 
Irving,  Washington,        114 

,  LETTER,        212 
Izard,  mrs.,        270 
James,  G:  P.  R.,        179       269 
Janvier,  F.  de  H.,        152-3 


Jefferson,  T:,        259-61 
Jones,  W:  A.,        224 
Kane,  E.  K.,       306 
Keese,  J :,       36 

KENNEDY,  J:  P.,  203    222    297    305 

Key,  Fr.  S.,        160 

Kimball,  R:  B.,       281       296       303 

Knickerbocker  literature,    75        115 

Magazine,        109 

Lafontaine,        117        140 

Lang,  Andrew,  quoted,       148 

Legare,  J.  M.,        52 

LELAND,  C:G.,    282    285    301     307 

Letters,  preservation  of,       295 

Lewis,  Estelle  A.,       252 

Literary  criticism 
abusiv,      17    91    112    182    229 
genial,    50    173    245-6    300    302 

Literary  World,        180        225 

Literature   [see  Authors],  original 
ity  in,        182        206 

in  United-States 

English  views  of,        125    149     180 
schools  in,    75       115        182        206 

LOCKE,  JANE  E.,       264-6 

Locke,  R:  A.,        14 

Longfellow,  H:W.,    100      103      151 
203        250        302 

,    LETTER,          135 

Lowell,  Ja.  R.,         145       227       240 

quoted,        151 

Lynch  [  Botta  ] ,  Anne  C.,  213-17   256 
LYTTON,  LADY,       258 
Magazines  in  U.  S.,  33    109    118    123 

pay,        109        127-8        134-5       144 

152        194        299 
MANCUR,  J.  H.,    ""  127 
Mann,  Mr.,        30        32 
MANN,  DANIEL,       304 
Mathews,  Cornelius,   91    176    180-82 

224       229 

,    LETTER,          161 

Meredith,  J:H.,       253 
Mitchell,  D.  G.,       272-4 

,    LETTER,          271 

MOORE,  FRANK,       253 


INDEX. 


Morf o  rd ,  H : ,  quoted .       36 
Morris,  G:  P.,       201 

,    LETTER,          306 

MULCHINOCK,  W.  P.,          270 

Neal.  J:,        160       172 

,    LETTERS,          167-72 

NEAL,  M. . ,       203 
Neale,J.  C.,        143       230 
New-York,  politics,       12 
New-Yorker,       24       26       31       93 
New  World,        29       31        59       65 
Newspapers  in  U.  S. : — 

scandal  in,        165 

writers,       227        pay,       93 

— ,  Boston,    31       48       New 

York,    152      164-5       PhiPa,      102 
Nominations,  machine  for,       10 

,  Presidential,  how  to  make,      26 

North- American  Review,     176      299 
NORTON,  ANDREWS,       162 
Office-seeking,       61 
Ohio,  life  in  1820,        116 
Onderdonk,  B:T.,        164        167 
Osgood,F..S.,         134       216       259 

,    LETTER,          256 

302 


Osgood,  S.  S. 

O'SULLIVAN,  J:  L.,        123 
OTIS,  J.  A.  G.,       103 
Page,  W :,        240 
Palmer,  W.  P.,       137 
Parker,  Theodore,       95        189 
PAULDING,  J.  K.,     10       135 
PEABODY,  A.  P.,       299 
Periodicals  in  1835,       33 
Perkins,  J.  H.,       98 
Persuasion,  art  of,       189 
Peterson,  C:J.,        120-1        199 

,    LETTER,          152 

Phelps,  S.  S.,       233 

Philadelphia,  climate,        185 

Pierpont,  J:,        198 

Pike,  Albert,        71 

Pioneer,        137 

Pinkney,  E:  C.,       97 

Pinto,  F.  M.,        179 

Plagiarism,       247-8       269 

Poe,  Edgar  A.,    186     214     220     230 


269  quoted,  118  121  217 
as  critic,  17  45  88  90-1  121 
works,  200  Griswold's  alleged 
enmity  to,  90  120  252  267-8  286 

,  opinions    on,    of    Briggs, 

267       ofColton,262      of  Greeley, 
249        of    Harrington,      257        of 
Osgood,    256        ofWilmer,    143 
Poetry,  U.  S.,  works  on,    50    51    60 
246    pay  for,    100    110    282 

,  parodies,        198 

,  macaronic,        199 

Political-Economy  in  U.  S.,       187 
Politics  in  U.  S.,    13        [see  Nom 
inations,  Slavery,  Whigs 
Prophets  in  their  own  country,      261 
Protection  in  U.  S.,        188       285 
Putnam,  G :  P.,  quoted,        303-4 
Raymond,  H:J.,    48      51        53     58 
93        101        165 

,  LETTERS,     21     22    29    31 

49    50    55    57    63      101      125     164 
166        175 
Roberts,  G:,       48        65 


Root,  "  Elder," 
Sargent,  Epes, 


237 

56 


128 


,  LETTERS,          107 

Sargent,  J:  O.,       52        53 
Saxe,  J:G.,        251 
Schoolcraft,  H :  R.,       291 
Sealsfield,  C:,        83       211 
292      Sedgwick,  Miss,       214 

SEWARD,  MARY  L.,       213 
SIMMS,  W:G.,       77-86 

,  works,     177        179       181 

Slavery  agitation,    16     22     116    290 
Smith,  E. .  Oakes,  66  129-32  144    224 
Smith  [Rose],  miss,        152 
Smyth,  Albert  H.,  quoted.        145 
Soden,S.  S.,        113 
Southern  States,  life  of  teacher  in,  27 

— ,  literature  of,        120-21 
Southern  Literary  Messenger,    33-35 

47       279 

Squier,  E.  G.,        291 
Stansbury,  E.  A.    [t,  4  nov.  1873] 

27        32 


INDEX. 


STEPHENS,  MRS.  A. .  S.,       133 
Stevens,  Thadeus,        30       52 
Stoddard ,  R :  H  : ,  quoted ,       33       88 

92        214        268 
Stone,  W:L.,        63 
Sullivan,  J:  T.  S.,        253 
Taylor,  Bayard,  140-1  254  quoted,  40 

,  Zachary,       235       237-8 

TENNY,  A.  G.,       97 

Tennyson,  works,        113 

Texas,  war  in,       39        125 

Thackeray,       303 

THOMAS,  F:W:,    66    95     97    295-6 

THOMPSON,  J:  E.,       263       279 

Thoreau,H:D:,     99      206-9      212-3 

LETTER,          233 

Transcendentalism,       46 
Traveling  in  1838,        19 
Trent,  W :  P. ,  quoted ,       86 
TRUMBULL,  J:,       8 
Tucker  family,        305 
Tuckerman,  H:  T.,        74       186 

,  LETTERS,        66       113 

Tyler,  Robert,       98 

United-States,  English  views  of,    150 

VAN  BIBBER,  T:  E.,       160 

Van  Buren,  M.,        237 

Van  Ness,  C.  P.,       28 

Vergennes,       20 

Verplanck,  G.  C.,       52 


Very,  Jones,       98 

Vestiges  of  Creation,        166 

VICTOR,  O.  J.,       243 

WALLACE,  HORACE  B.,     245       260 

Webb,  Ja.  Watson,       53 

Webster,  Daniel,       229 

Weed,  Theodore,  21     quoted,  53    61 

Welby,  Amelia,        66       155 

Westminster  Review,       281 

Whig  party,        23 

Whipple,  Edwin  P.,        172        235 

LETTERS,    204       224      227-9     233 
Whitman,  Sarah  H.,       248       256 
White,  R :  Grant,        186       203 
,  T:W.,        33 

,     LETTERS,         35        38         47 

93       96        100-1        105 
Whittier,  J:  Greenleaf,       30       201 

,  LETTERS,       266       278 

WILDE,  R:  H:,       97       137 
Willis,  Nathaniel  P.,     75      108      127 

164-66    213    215    quoted,    109    126 

165 


,    LETTERS, 


108       295 


Wilmer,  L.  A.,        143 

Wolfsden,       304 

Women  in  journalism,        111 

poets,        112 

Words,  incorrect  use,        38 
WRIGHT,  ELIZUR,       115       139 


Passages  from  tlie  Correspondence  and  Other  Papers  of  Rufus 
W.  Oriswold.  Cambridge,  Mass.:  W.  M.  Griswold. 
1898.  Price  $2.,  postpaid. 

Apart  from  the  merit  of  his  work,  his  [Griswold's]  position 
as  the  Rhadamanthus  of  contemporary  poetic  ambitions,  then 
perhaps  more  numerous  even  than  now,  made  him  the  centre 
of  much  correspondence,  and  resulted  in  his  papers  becoming 
the  repository  of  an  unusual  amount  of  literary  information 
about  books  and  their  authors,  biographical  data  at  first  hand, 
and  other  matters  of  transitory  nature,  such  that  this  selec 
tion  from  them  by  his  son  is  well  described  in  the  prefatory 
note  as  the  "  small-talk  of  authors  and  journalists  of  fifty 
years  ago."  The  volume  .  .  .  contains  a  more  vivid  and 
more  intimate  view  of  the  atmosphere  and  state  of  literature 
in  the  early  manhood  of  our  more  important  writers,  as  they 
proved  to  be,  than  is  elsewhere  to  be  obtained. 

It  is  true  that  the  world  of  letters  depicted  seems  to  have 
little  to  do  with  Longfellow,  Lowell,  and  Hawthorne.  .  .  . 
It  is  the  world  of  the  magazines  and  journals  and  their  brief 
and  flimsy  reputations,  of  coteries  and  circles  in  the  city  and 
visita.nts  from  the  Southwest  and  the  Illinois  prairies — the 
world  which  seems  now  more  malicious  and  now  more  humor 
ous,  but  which  was  the  environment,  in  taste,  feeling,  and 
culture,  of  the  pursuit  of  letters  here  for  a  generation.  The 
talk  is  "  small-talk  ";  and  the  names  of  the  speakers  come  like 
faint  echoes  of  a  "  ruined  Paradise."  .  .  .  But,  after  all, 
though  humorous  surprise  will  intrude  upon  the  reader,  there 
is  a  great  deal  of  reality  in  this  literary  past.  .  .  .  Boston  is 
sketched  out  a  bit  by  Fields,  who  contributes  to  the  volume 
two  familiar  epistles  in  verse  to  "  Kufe,"  as  the  great  editor 
is  companionably  called  (or  "  Gris ")  throughout  by  his 
friends.  .  .  .  The  whole  volume,  it  must  be  understood, 
though  thoroughly  edited,  is  piecemeal  in  character; 
and  it  is  only  by  an  extract  here  and  there  that  one  can  in 
dicate  rapidly  that  vivid  and  intimate  quality  which  has  been 
already  mentioned  as  characterizing  it  and  giving  it  salt.  .  .  . 
Though  Griswold's  personality  is  thus  fully  suggested,  it  can- 


not  be  said  that  he  is  particularly  noticeable  for  imperfection 
in  comparison  with  the  crowd  upon  the  page.  It  would  be 
an  interminable  task  were  one  to  try  to  survey  that  crowd  in 
detail.  Strange  and  wonderful  persons  abound  in  it,  intel 
lects  manque  and  morals  very  much  in  the  same  deplorable 
state,  drivers  is  easily  the  first  .  .  .  The  tribute  of  John 
Esten  Cooke  to  his  brother  Philip  Pendleton  is  charming, 
and  George  William  Curtis's  account  of  himself,  ending 
"  Viola  tout!  and  Shelley  died  when  he  was  no  older  than 
I  am,"  is  interesting;  so  is  John  NeaFs  similar  communi 
cation.  In  the  way  of  curious  literature,  those  who  remem 
ber  Poe's  ''  Valentine  "  to  Mrs.  Osgood  in  which  he  wove  her 
name  into  the  verse,  will  read  the  similar  effusion  she  ad 
dressed  to  Griswold  with  a  touch  of  surprise.  It  is  an  illus 
trative  document  in  regard  to  the  literary  group.  .  .  .  Mrs. 
Osgood's  letter  showing  her  real  relations  with  Poe  will  also 
be  found  in  the  volume.  But  to  draw  to  an  end  in  this  maze 
of  extraordinary  and  minute  matter,  enough  has  been  shown 
of  the  contents  of  the  volume  to  impress  any  student  of  the 
times  on  their  literary  or  social  side  with  its  rare  documentary 
value. 

Of  the  editor's  work  (except  constructively)  it  is  im 
possible  to  speak  too  highly.  He  has  done  it  thoroughly, 
frankly,  and  with  impenetrable  justice;  and  he  deserves  the 
credit  of  giving  to  us  the  most  important,  lasting,  and  illumi 
nating  work,  outside  of  the  biographies  of  our  greater  authors, 
upon  the  literary  annals  of  the  nation  in  its  days  of  nonage. — 
The  Nation,  17  Nov.  1898. 

This  crown  octavo  of  a  few  over  three  hundred  pages  is  the 
loyal  effort  of  a  son  to  honor  the  memory  of  a  father.  Hap 
pily  the  present  generation  have  nearly  outlived  the  unpleas 
ant  times  of  the  bitter  controversies  over  the  names  of  Gris- 
wold,  Ingram,*  and  Poe,  though  echoes  of  those  times  have 
come  down  to  us  through  the  lips  of  Gill  and  Didier  and 
others,  who,  on  one  side  or  the  other,  have  taken  up  the 
cudgels  of  rhetoric  for  a  friend  or  against  a  foe.  .  . 

Coming  to  the  contents,  we  will  tell  the  reader  .  .  .  that  in 
it  are  collected  about  318  letters,  long  and  short,  from  about 

*  Mr.  Ingram  will  be  amused  when  he  sees  that  a  literary  periodical  sup 
poses  him  to  have  been  a  contemporary  of  Griswold  and  Poe.— W.  M.  G. 


123  different  persons,  fastened  together  by  a  mosaic  of  nar 
rative,  biographical  statement,  and  illustrative  citation  from 
numerous  periodicals.  Dr.  Rufus  W.  Griswold  was  born  in 
1815  and  died  in  1857,  and  these  letters  run  to  the  latter  date 
from  1835.  They  may  therefore  be  said  to  relate  to  the  liter 
ary  life  of  the  middle  third  of  the  present  century.  That  was 
a  time  of  high  tide.  Dr.  Griswold  had  a  wide  acquaintance, 
many  friends,  and  extremely  frank  correspondents;  and  his 
son  seems  to  have  had  no  compunctions  at  the  printing  of  his 
letters — letters  to  him,  not  by  him,  for  there  are  only  oome 
fourteen  by  him  in  the  whole  volume,  and  they  are  of  slight 
importance.  His  most  productive  correspondent  is  Horace 
Greeley,  who  was  then  at  the  beginning  of  his  career.  Those 
were  the  days  of  the  founding  of  the  New  York  Tribune. 
Between  forty  and  fifty  letters  from  Greeley  are  given,  and 
some  of  them  are  such  as  must  make  the  writer  turn  over  in 
his  grave  to  think  of  their  being  in  print.  Henry  J.  Ray 
mond,  Greeley's  comrade  in  the  stony  paths  of  early  journal 
ism,  contributes  thirteen  letters  to  the  collection;  James  T. 
Fields  and  Charles  Fenno  Hoffman  seventeen,  Henry  C.  Carey 
seven.  The  rest  are  very  widely  scattering.  There  are  only  .two 
from  Whittier,  one  from  Longfellow,  one  each  from  Irving, 
Emerson,  Hawthorne,  and  Thoreau.  There  are  two  each 
from  Henry  Clay,  H.  T.  Tuckerman,  Wm.  Gilmore  Simms, 
W.  E.  Burton,  Cooper,  Bryant,  John  and  Mary  Neal,  Holmes, 
Epes  Sargent,  Saxe  and  Willis.  Charles  F.  Briggs  has  four; 
Alice  Gary,  J.  P.  Kennedy,  C.  G.  Leland,  and  F.  W.  Thomas 
four  each;  James  K.  Paulding,  C.  R.  Graham,  A.  S.  Hart  two 
each;  and  the  large  number  remaining  are  for  the  most  part 
single  letters  from  an  army  of  the  comparatively  obscure, 
though  there  are  some  bright  exceptions,  such  as  Jonathan 
Trumbull,  Albert  Pike,  Tom  Corwin,  George  S.  Hillard, 
George  P.  Morris,  Andrews  Norton,  Carlyle,  Calhoun,  Lydia 
Maria  Child,  Ann  S.  Stephens,  Mrs.  Ellet,  and  John  Esten 
Cooke.  Many  of  these  letters  are  all  of  what  would  be  called 
"  racy  reading."  .  .  .  Not  a  few  afford  glimpses  and  sugges 
tions  of,  if  they  do  not  actually  convey  a  taste  of,  the  vulgarity, 
the  profaneness,  the  scurrility  that  infested  even  the  selectest 
circles.  A  few  rise  high  above  this  level,  and  many  contain 
passages  of  real  interest.  .  .  .  That  the  letters  as  a  whole  throw 
much  light  upon  the  literary  life  of  their  time  is  not  to  be 


gainsaid.  But  it  is  not  always  an  agreeable  life  to  look  upon. 
We  are  taken  into  a  good  many  backyards,  where  no  little 
dirty  linen  is  being  washed  or  is  hanging  up  to  dry;  and  we 
learn  that  the  authors  and  journalists  of  the  former  genera 
tion  were  not  always  the  cultivated,  refined,  and  well-bred 
gentlemen  that  their  successors  are  supposed  to  be.  It  must 
be  that  authors  are  sometimes  to  be  found  in  undress,  not  to 
say  in  dishabille;  and  such  is  their  fate  on  more  than  one 
page  of  this  volume.  It  is  a  matter  for  thankfulness  that 
manners  have  improved.  Here  are  reputations  in  the  process 
of  the  making,  and  others  that  to  us  are  bright  and  unsullied, 
spattered  and  sullied  by  the  mire  of  jealousy  and  envy;  here 
are  resurrections  of  names  long  buried  and  forgotten;  here 
are  uncovered  the  foundations  of  enterprises  long  since  aban 
doned;  here  are  data  that  have  escaped  the  search  of  the  dic 
tionary  makers  and  the  compilers  of  literary  histories.  That 
much  of  all  this  matter  is  interesting  and  some  of  it  important 
can  be  readily  discerned.  That  much  of  it  tends  to  present  in 
a  favorable  light  the  personalty  and  services  of  the  elder  Gris- 
wold  will  be  expected.  .  .  .  That  the  book  as  a  whole,  despite 
its  faults  and  imperfections,  is  a  contribution  of  note  to  the 
history  of  American  literature  all  must  admit.  The  secrets 
of  some  dark  corners  of  this  field  cannot  be  fully  and  exactly 
written  without  reference  to  points  which  this  book  contains. 
—Literary  World,  3  Sept.  1898. 

[It  is]  Replete  with  matters  of  the  first  literary  importance 
to  Americans.  .  .  .  From  one  cover  to  the  other  the  work 
abounds  in  the  most  fascinating  revelations  of  the  personali 
ties  which  made  up  the  American  world  of  letters  in  the 
'forties  and  'fifties;  letters,  notes,  autobiographies,  confessions, 
self -laudations,  wails  of  despairing  and  neglected  geniuses 
now  forgotten, — in  brief,  all  the  curiosities  of  literature  which 
the  foremost  critical  writer  of  an  interesting  period  might  be 
expected  to  accumulate  during  his  life-time.  Not  letters 
alone,  but  the  early  journalism  is  given  us  in  what  scientists 
call  "  preparations "  innumerable,  notes  from  Greeley  and 
Raymond,  and  correspondence  with  half  the  magazine  editors 
in  the  country,  the  whole  forming  a  collection  quite  without 
parallel.— The  Dial,  1  Nov.  1898. 


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